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Omitted Chapters of History, Disclosed in the Life 

and Papers of Edmund Randolph. — By Moncure 

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G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York & London. 



THE WRITINGS 

OF 

THOMAS PAINE 

COLLECTED AND EDITED BY 

MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY 

AUTHOR OF "THB LIFE OF THOMAS PAINH," " OMITTED CHAPTERS OF HISTORV 

DISCLOSED IN THB LIFE AND PAPERS OF EDMUND RANDOLPH," 

"GEORGE WASHINGTON AND MOUNT VERNON," ETC. 



VOLUME III. 
1791-1804 




/*** 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON 

27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND 

%\t Jinukcibochrr press 
1895 






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COPYRIGHT, 1895 

by G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

Entered at Stationers 1 Hall, London 
by G. P. Putnam's Sons 



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CONTENTS. 



->£X- 



S? 



PACK 

Introduction to the Third Volume ... . v 

I. — The Republican Proclamation i 

II. — To the Authors of " Le Rewblicain " . 4 

III. — To the Abbe" Sieyes 9 

IV. — To the Attorney General . . . .11 

V. — To Mr. Secretary Dundas .... 15 

VI. — Letters to Onslow Cranley .... 30 

VII. — To the Sheriff of the County of Sussex . 37 

VIII. — To Mr. Secretary Dundas .... 41 

IX. — Letter Addressed to the Addressers on 

the Late Proclamation .... 45 

X. — Address to the People of France . . 97 

XI. — Anti-Monarchal Essay 101 

XII. — To the Attorney General, on the Prose- 
cution AGAINST THE SECOND PART OF RIGHTS 

of Man . . 1 to 

XIII. — On the Propriety of Bringing Louis XVI. 

to Trial 114 

XIV. — Reasons for Preserving the Life of Louis 

Capet . . . . . . . .119 

XV. — Shall Louis XVI. Have Respite?. . . 125 

XVI. — Declaration of Rights 128 

XVII. — Private Letters to Jefferson . . . 1^2 

XVIII. — Letters to Danton 135 



iv CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

XIX. — A Citizen of America to the Citizens of 

Europe 140 

XX. — Appeal to the Convention .... 147 

XXI. — The Memorial to Monroe .... 150 

XXII. — Letter to George Washington . . .213 

XXIII. — Observations 253 

XXIV. — Dissertation on First Principles of Gov- 
ernment 256 

XXV. — The Constitution of 1795 .... 278 
XXVI. — The Decline and Fall of the English Sys- 
tem of Finance 286 

xxvii. forgetfulness 313 

XXVIII. — Agrarian Justice 322 

XXIX. — The Eighteenth Fructidor . . . 345 

XXX. — The Recall of Monroe .... 368 

XXXI. — Private Letter to President Jefferson 371 

XXXII. — Proposal that Louisiana be Purchased . 379 

XXXIII. — Thomas Paine to the Citizens of the 

United States 381 

XXXIV. — To the French Inhabitants of Louisiana 430 




INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD VOLUME. 

WITH HISTORICAL NOTES AND DOCUMENTS. 

IN a letter of Lafayette to Washington ("Paris, 12 Jan., 
1790") he writes: "Common Sense is writing for you a 
brochure where you will see a part of my adventures." It 
thus appears that the narrative embodied in the reply to 
Burke (" Rights of Man," Part I.), dedicated to Washington, 
was begun with Lafayette's collaboration fourteen months 
before its publication (March 13, 1791). 

In another letter of Lafayette to Washington (March 17, 
1790) he writes: 

" To Mr. Paine, who leaves for London, I entrust the care of 
sending you my news. . . . Permit me, my dear General, to 
offer you a picture representing the Bastille as it was some days 
after I gave the order for its demolition. I also pay you the 
homage of sending you the principal Key of that fortress of 
despotism. It is a tribute I owe as a son to my adoptive father, 
as aide-de-camp to my General, as a missionary of liberty to his 
Patriarch." 

The Key was entrusted to Paine, and by him to J. Rut- 
ledge, Jr., who sailed from London in May. I have found 
in the manuscript despatches of Louis Otto, Charged' Af- 
faires, several amusing paragraphs, addressed to his govern- 
ment at Paris, about this Key. 

"August 4, 1790. In attending yesterday the public audience 
of the President, I was surprised by a question from the Chief 
Magistrate, * whether I would like to see the Key of the Bastille ? ' 
One of his secretaries showed me at the same moment a large 
Key, which had been sent to the President by desire of the Mar- 
quis de la Fayette. I dissembled my surprise in observing to the 
President that 'the time had not yet come in America to do iron- 



vi INTRODUCTION. 



work equal to that before him.' The Americans present looked 
at the key with indifference, and as if wondering why it had been 
sent. But the serene face of the President showed that he 
regarded it as an homage from the French nation." " December 
13, 1790. The Key of the Bastille, regularly shown at the Presi- 
dent's audiences, is now also on exhibition in Mrs. Washington's 
salon, where it satisfies the curiosity of the Philadelphians. I am 
persuaded, Monseigneur, that it is only their vanity that finds 
pleasure in the exhibition of this trophy, but Frenchmen here are 
not the less piqued, and many will not enter the President's house 
on this account." 

In sending the Key Paine, who saw farther than these 
distant Frenchmen, wrote to Washington : " That the prin- 
ciples of America opened the Bastille is not to be doubted, 
and therefore the Key comes to the right place." 

Early in May, 1791 (the exact date is not given), Lafayette 
writes Washington : " I send you the rather indifferent 
translation of Mr. Paine as a kind of preservative and to 
keep me near you." This was a hasty translation of " Rights 
of Man," Part I., by F. Soules, presently superseded by that 
of Lanthenas. 

The first convert of Paine to pure republicanism in France 
was Achille Duchatelet, son of the Duke, and grandson of 
the authoress, — the friend of Voltaire. It was he and Paine 
who, after the flight of Louis XVI., placarded Paris with the 
Proclamation of a Republic, given as the first chapter of this 
volume. An account of this incident is here quoted from 
Etienne Dumont's " Recollections of Mirabeau " : 

" The celebrated Paine was at this time in Paris, and intimate 
in Condorcet's family. Thinking that he had effected the Ameri- 
can Revolution, he fancied himself called upon to bring about 
one in France. Duchatelet called on me, and after a little preface 
placed in my hand an English manuscript — a Proclamation to the 
French People. It was nothing less than an anti-royalist Mani- 
festo, and summoned the nation to seize the opportunity and 
establish a Republic. Paine was its author. Duchatelet had 
adopted and was resolved to sign, placard the walls of Paris with 
it, and take the consequences. He had come to request me to 



IX TROD UCTIOX. VI I 



translate and develop it. I began discussing the strange proposal, 
and pointed out the danger of raising a republican standard with- 
out concurrence of the National Assembly, and nothing being as 
yet known of the king's intentions, resources, alliances, and pos- 
sibilities of support by the army, and in the provinces. I asked 
if he had consulted any of the most influential leaders, — Sieyes, 
Lafayette, etc. He had not : he and Paine had acted alone. An 
American and an impulsive nobleman had put themselves forward 
to change the whole governmental system of France. Resisting 
his entreaties, I refused to translate the Proclamation. Next day 
the republican Proclamation appeared on the walls in every part 
of Paris, and was denounced to the Assembly. The idea of a 
Republic had previously presented itself to no one : this first inti- 
mation filled with consternation the Right and the moderates of 
the Left. Malouet, Cazales, and others proposed prosecution of 
the author, but Chapelier, and a numerous party, fearing to add 
fuel to the fire instead of extinguishing it, prevented this. But 
some of the seed sown by the audacious hand of Paine were now 
budding in leading minds." 

A Republican Club was formed in July, consisting of five 
members, the others who joined themselves to Paine and 
Duchatelet being Condorcet, and probably Lanthenas (trans- 
lator of Paine's works), and Nicolas de Bonneville. They 
advanced so far as to print " Le Republicain," of which, 
however, only one number ever appeared. From it is taken 
the second piece in this volume. 

Early in the year 1792 Paine lodged in the house and 
book-shop of Thomas " Clio " Rickman, now as then 7 
Upper Marylebone Street. Among his friends was the 
mystical artist and poet, William Blake. Paine had become 
to him a transcendental type ; he is one of the Seven who 
appear in Blake's " Prophecy" concerning America (1793): 

" The Guardian Prince of Albion burns in his nightly tent. 
Sullen fires across the Atlantic glow to America's shore ; 
Piercing the souls of warlike men, who rise in silent night : — 
Washington, Franklin, Paine, and Warren, Gates, Hancock, and 

Greene, 
Meet on the coast glowing with blood from Albion's fiery Prince." 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 



The Seven are wrapt in the flames of their enthusiasm. 
Albion's Prince sends to America his thirteen Angels, who, 
however, there become Governors of the thirteen States. 
It is difficult to discover from Blake's mystical visions how 
much political radicalism was in him, but he certainly saved 
Paine from the scaffold by forewarning him (September 13, 
1792) that an order had been issued for his arrest. With- 
out repeating the story told in Gilchrist's " Life of Blake," 
and in my " Life of Paine," I may add here my belief that 
Paine also appears in one of Blake's pictures. The picture 
is in the National Gallery (London), and called " The spir- 
itual form of Pitt guiding Behemoth." The monster jaws 
of Behemoth are full of struggling men, some of whom 
stretch imploring hands to another spiritual form, who reaches 
down from a crescent moon in the sky, as if to rescue them. 
This face and form appear to me certainly meant for Paine. 

Acting on Blake's warning Paine's friends got him off 
to Dover, where, after some trouble, related in a letter to 
Dundas (see p. 41 of this volume), he reached Calais. He 
had been elected by four departments to the National Con- 
vention, and selected Calais, where he was welcomed with 
grand civic parades. On September 19, 1792, he arrived in 
Paris, stopping at " White's Hotel," 7 Passage des Petits Peres, 
about five minutes' walk from the Salle de Manage, where, 
on September 21st, the National Convention opened its ses- 
sions. The spot is now indicated by a tablet on the wall of 
the Tuileries Garden, Rue de Rivoli. On that day Paine 
was introduced to the Convention by the Abbe Gregoire, 
and received with acclamation. 

The French Minister in London, Chauvelin, had sent to 
his government (still royalist) a despatch unfavorable to 
Paine's work in England, part of which I translate : 

" May 23, 1792. An Association [for Parliamentary Reform, 
see pp. 78, 93, of this volume] has been formed to seek the means 
of forwarding the demand. It includes some distinguished mem- 
bers of the Commons, and a few peers. The writings of M. 
Payne which preceded this Association by a few days have done 



IN TR OD UC TION. l x 



it infinite harm. People suspect under the veil of a reform long 
demanded by justice and reason an intention to destroy a consti- 
tution equally dear to the peers whose privileges it consecrates, to 
the wealthy whom it protects, and to the entire nation, to which 
it assures all the liberty desired by a people methodical and slow 
in character, and who, absorbed in their commercial interests, do 
not like being perpetually worried about the imbecile George III. 
or public affairs. Vainly have the friends of reform protested 
their attachment to the Constitution. Vainly they declare that 
they desire to demand nothing, to obtain nothing, save in lawful 
ways. They are persistently disbelieved. Payne alone is seen in 
all their movements ; and this author has not, like Mackintosh, 
rendered imposing his refutation of Burke. The members of the 
Association, although very different in principles, find themselves 
involved in the now almost general disgrace of Payne." 

M. Noel writes from London, November 2, 1792, to the 
republican Minister, Le Brun, concerning the approaching 
trial of Paine, which had been fixed for December 18th. 

" This matter above all excites the liveliest interest. People 
desire to know whether they live in a free country, where criticism 
even of government is a right of every citizen. Whatever may 
be the decision in this interesting trial, the result can only be for- 
tunate for the cause of liberty. But the government cannot con- 
ceal from itself that it is suspended over a volcano. The wild 
dissipations of the King's sons add to the discontent, and if 
something is overlooked in the Prince of Wales, who is loved 
enough, it is not so with the Duke of York, who has few friends. 
The latter has so many debts that at this moment the receivers 
are in his house, and the creditors wish even his bed to be seized. 
You perceive, Citizen, what a text fruitful in reflexions this con- 
duct presents to a people groaning under the weight of taxes for 
the support of such whelps (louvctaux)." 

Under date of December 22, 1792, M. Noel writes: 

"London is perfectly tranquil. The arbitrary measures taken 
by the government in advance [of Paine's trial] cause no 
anxiety to the mass of the nation about its liberties. Some 



IN TROD UCTION. 



clear-headed people see well that the royal prerogative will 
gain in this crisis, and that it is dangerous to leave executive 
power to become arbitrary at pleasure ; but this very small 
number groan in silence, and dare not speak for fear of seeing 
their property pillaged or burned by what the miserable hirelings 
of government call ' Loyal Mob,' or ' Church and King Mob.' 
To the 'Addressers,' of whom I wrote you, are added the 
associations for maintaining the Constitution they are doing all 
they can to destroy. There is no corporation, no parish, which is 
not mustered for this object. All have assembled, one on the 
other, to press against those whom they call * The Republicans 
and the Levellers,' the most inquisitorial measures. Among other 
parishes, one (S. James' Vestry Room) distinguishes itself by a 
decree worthy of the sixteenth century. It promises twenty 
guineas reward to any one who shall denounce those who in con- 
versation or otherwise propagate opinions contrary to the public 
tranquillity, and places the denouncer under protection of the 
parish. The inhabitants of London are now placed under a new 
kind of Test, and those who refuse it will undoubtedly be perse- 
cuted. Meantime these papers are carried from house to house 
to be signed, especially by those lodging as strangers. This 
Test causes murmurs, and some try to evade signature, but the 
number is few. The example of the capital is generally followed. 
u The trial of Payne, which at one time seemed likely to cause 
events, has ended in the most peaceful way. Erskine has been 
borne to his house by people shouting God Save the King! 
Erskine forever J The friends of liberty generally are much dis- 
satisfied with the way in which he has defended his client. They 
find that he threw himself into commonplaces which could make 
his eloquence shine, but guarded himself well from going to the 
bottom of the question. Vane especially, a distinguished advo- 
cate and zealous democrat, is furious against Erskine. It is now 
for Payne to defend himself. But whatever he does, he will have 
trouble enough to reverse the opinion. The Jury's verdict is 
generally applauded : a mortal blow is dealt to freedom of 
thought. People sing in the streets, even at midnight, God save 
the King a?id damn Tom Payne ! " * 

1 The despatches from which these translations are made are in the Archives 
of the Department of State at Paris, series marked Anglcicrrc, vol. 5S1. 



INTRODUCTION. XI 



The student of that period will find some instruction in a 
collection, now in the British Museum, of coins and medals 
mostly struck after the trial and outlawry of Paine. A half- 
penny, January 21, 1793 : obverse, a man hanging on a gib- 
bet, with church in the distance ; motto " End of Pain " ; re- 
verse, open book inscribed " The Wrongs of Man." A token : 
bust of Paine, with his name ; reverse, " The Mountain in 
Labour, 1793." Farthing: Paine gibbeted ; reverse, breeches 
burning, legend, " Pandora's breeches " ; beneath, serpent 
decapitated by a dagger, the severed head that of Paine. 
Similar farthing, but reverse, combustibles intermixed with 
labels issuing from a globe marked " Fraternity " ; the labels 
inscribed " Regicide," " Robbery," " Falsity," " Requi- 
sition " ; legend, " French Reforms, 1797 " ; near by, a church 
with flag, on it a cross. Half-penny without date, but no 
doubt struck in 1794, when a rumor reached London that 
Paine had been guillotined : Paine gibbeted ; above, devil 
smoking a pipe ; reverse, monkey dancing ; legend, " We 
dance, Paine swings." Farthing : three men hanging on a 
gallows ; " The three Thomases, 1796." Reverse, u May the 
three knaves of Jacobin Clubs never get a trick." The three 
Thomases were Thomas Paine, Thomas Muir, and Thomas 
Spence. In 1794 Spence was imprisoned seven months for 
publishing some of Paine's works at his so-called " Hive of 
Liberty." Muir, a Scotch lawyer, was banished to Botany 
Bay for fourteen years for having got up in Edinburgh 
(1792) a " Convention," in imitation of that just opened in 
Paris ; two years later he escaped from Botany Bay on an 
American ship, and found his way to Paine in Paris. Among 
these coins there are two of opposite character. A farthing 
represents Pitt on a gibbet, against which rests a ladder ; 
inscription, " End of P [here an eye] T." Reverse, face of 
Pitt conjoined with that of the devil, and legend, " Even 
Fellows." Another farthing like the last, except an added 
legend, " Such is the reward of tyrants, 1796." These anti- 
Pitt farthings were struck by Thomas Spence. 

In the winter of 1792-3 the only Reign of Terror was in 
England. The Ministry had replied to Paine's " Rights of 



Xli INTRODUCTION. 



Man " by a royal proclamation against seditious literature, 
surrounding London with militia, and calling a meeting of 
Parliament (December, 1792) out of season. Even before 
the trial of Paine his case was prejudged by the royal proc- 
lamation, and by the Addresses got up throughout the 
country in response, — documents which elicited Paine's 
Address to the Addressers, chapter IX. in this volume. The 
Tory gentry employed roughs to burn Paine in effigy through- 
out the country, and to harry the Nonconformists. Dr. 
Priestley's house was gutted. Mr. Fox (December 14, 1792) 
reminded the House of Commons that all the mobs had 
" Church and King " for their watchword, no mob having 
been heard of for "The Rights of Man"; and he vainly 
appealed to the government to prosecute the dangerous 
libels against Dissenters as they were prosecuting Paine's 
work. Burke, who in the extra session of Parliament for the 
first time took his seat on the Treasury Bench, was reminded 
that he had once " exulted at the victories of that rebel 
Washington," and welcomed Franklin. " Franklin," he said, 
" was a native of America; Paine was born in England, and 
lived under the protection of our laws ; but, instigated by his 
evil genius, he conspired against the very country which gave 
him birth, by attempting to introduce the new and pernicious 
doctrines of republicans." 

In the course of the same harangue, Burke alluded to the 
English and Irish deputations, then in Paris, which had con- 
gratulated the Convention on the defeat of the invaders of 
the Republic. Among them he named Lord Semphill, John 
Frost, D. Adams, and " Joel— Joel the Prophet" (Joel Bar- 
low). These men were among those who, towards the close 
of 1792, formed a sort of Paine Club at " Philadelphia 
House " — as White's Hotel was now called. The men 
gathered around Paine, as the exponent of republican princi- 
ples, were animated by a passion for liberty which withheld 
no sacrifice. Some of them threw away wealth and rank as 
trifles. At a banquet of the Club, at Philadelphia House, 
November 18, 1792, where Paine presided, Lord Edward 
Fitzgerald and Sir Robert Smyth, Baronet, formally re- 



INTRODUCTION. xiii 



nounced their titles. Sir Robert proposed the toast, " A 
speedy abolition of all hereditary titles and feudal distinc- 
tions." Another toast was, u Paine — and the new way of 
making good books known by a Royal proclamation and a 
King's Bench prosecution." 

There was also Franklin's friend, Benjamin Vaughan, Mem- 
ber of Parliament, who, compromised by an intercepted let- 
ter, took refuge in Paris under the name of Jean Martin. 
Other Englishmen were Rev. Jeremiah Joyce, a Unitarian 
minister and author (coadjutor of Dr. Gregory in his " Cy- 
clopaedia ") ; Henry Redhead Yorke, a West Indian with some 
negro blood (afterwards an agent of Pitt, under whom he 
had been imprisoned) ; Robert Merry, husband of the actress 
" Miss Brunton " ; Sayer, Rayment, Macdonald, Perry. 

Sampson Perry of London, having attacked the govern- 
ment in his journal, " The Argus," fled from an indictment, 
and reached Paris in January, 1793. These men, who for a 
time formed at Philadelphia House their Parliament of Man, 
were dashed by swift storms on their several rocks. Sir 
Robert Smyth was long a prisoner under the Reign of Terror, 
and died (1802) of the illness thereby contracted. Lord 
Edward Fitzgerald was slain while trying to kindle a revolu- 
tion in Ireland. Perry was a prisoner in the Luxembourg, 
and afterwards in London. John Frost, a lawyer (struck off 
the roll), ventured back to London, where he was imprisoned 
six months in Newgate, sitting in the pillory at Charing 
Cross one hour per day. Robert Merry went to Baltimore, 
where he died in 1798. Nearly all of these men suffered 
griefs known only to the " man without a country." 

Sampson Perry, who in 1796 published an interesting 
" History of the French Revolution," has left an account of 
his visit to Paine in January, 1793: 

" I breakfasted with Paine about this time at the Philadelphia 
Hotel, and asked him which province in America he conceived 
the best calculated for a fugitive to settle in, and, as it were, to 
begin the world with no other means or pretensions than common 
sense and common honesty. Whether he saw the occasion and 



Xiv INTRODUCTION. 



felt the tendency of this question I know not ; but he turned it 
aside by the political news of the day, and added that he was 
going to dine with Petion, the mayor, and that he knew I should 
be welcome and be entertained. We went to the mayoralty in a 
hackney coach, and were seated at a table about which were 
placed the following persons : Petion, the mayor of Paris, with 
his female relation who did the honour of the table ; Dumourier, 
the commander-in-chief of the French forces, and one of his aides- 
de-camp ; Santerre, the commandant of the armed force of Paris, 
and an aide-de-camp ; Condorcet ; Brissot ; Gaudet ; Genson- 
net ; Danton ; Kersaint ; Claviere ; Vergniaud ; and Syeyes ; 
which, with three other persons, whose names I do not now recol- 
lect, and including Paine and myself, made in all nineteen." 

Paine found warm welcome in the home of Achille Du- 
chatelet, who with him had first proclaimed the Republic, 
and was now a General. Madame Duchatelet was an English 
lady of rank, Charlotte Comyn, and English was fluently 
spoken in the family. They resided at Auteuil, not far from 
the Abbe Moulet, who preserved an arm-chair with the in- 
scription, Benjamin Franklin hie sedebat. Paine was a guest 
of the Duchatelets soon after he got to work in the Conven- 
tion, as I have just discovered by a letter addressed " To 
Citizen Le Brun, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris." 

"Auteuil, Friday, the 4th December, 1792. I enclose an Irish 
newspaper which has been sent me from Belfast. It contains the 
Address of the Society of United Irishmen of Dublin (of which 
Society I am a member) to the volunteers of Ireland. None of 
the English newspapers that I have seen have ventured to repub- 
lish this Address, and as there is no other copy of it than this 
which I send you, I request you not to let it go out of your pos- 
session. Before I received this newspaper I had drawn up a 
statement of the affairs of Ireland, which I had communicated to 
my friend General Duchatelet at Auteuil, where I now am. I wish 
to confer with you on that subject, but as I do not speak French, 
and as the matter requires confidence, General Duchatelet has 
desired me to say that if you can make it convenient to dine with 
him and me at Auteuil, he will with pleasure do the office of in- 



INTRODUCTION. XV 



terpreter. I send this letter by my servant, but as it may not be 
convenient to you to give an answer directly, I have told him not 
to wait. — Thomas Paine." 

It will be noticed that Paine now keeps his servant, and 
drives to the Mayor's dinner in a hackney coach. A portrait 
painted in Paris about this time, now owned by Mr. Alfred 
Howlett of Syracuse, N. Y., shows him in elegant costume. 

It is mournful to reflect, even at this distance, that only a 
little later both Paine and his friend General Duchatelet 
were prisoners. The latter poisoned himself in prison 

(1794). 

The illustrative notes and documents which it seems best 
to set before the reader at the outset may here terminate. 
As in the previous volumes the writings are, as a rule, given 
in chronological sequence, but an exception is now made in 
respect of Paine's religious writings, some of which antedate 
essays in the present volume. The religious writings are 
reserved for the fourth and final volume, to which will be 
added an Appendix containing Paine's poems, scientific 
fragments, and several letters of general interest. 




I. 

THE REPUBLICAN PROCLAMATION. 1 

"Brethren and Fellow Citizens: 

" The serene tranquillity, the mutual confidence which 
prevailed amongst us, during the time of the late King's 
escape, the indifference with which we beheld him return, 
are unequivocal proofs that the absence of a King is more 
desirable than his presence, and that he is not only a political 
superfluity, but a grievous burden, pressing hard on the 
whole nation. 

" Let us not be imposed on by sophisms ; all that concerns 
this is reduced to four points. 

" He has abdicated the throne in having fled from his post. 
Abdication and desertion are not characterized by the length 
of absence ; but by the single act of flight. In the present 
instance, the act is everything, and the time nothing. 

" The nation can never give back its confidence to a man 
who, false to his trust, perjured to his oath, conspires a clan- 
destine flight, obtains a fraudulent passport, conceals a King 
of France under the disguise of a valet, directs his course 
towards a frontier covered with traitors and deserters, and 
evidently meditates a return into our country, with a force 
capable of imposing his own despotic laws. 

" Should his flight be considered as his own act, or the act 
of those who fled with him ? Was it a spontaneous resolu- 
tion of his own, or was it inspired by others ? The altcrna- 

1 See Introduction to this volume. This manifesto with which Paris was 
found placarded on July i, 1791, is described by Dumont as a " Republican 

Proclamation," but what its literal caption was I have not found. — Editor. 
vol in— 1 



2 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1791 

tive is immaterial ; whether fool or hypocrite, idiot or traitor, 
he has proved himself equally unworthy of the important 
functions that had been delegated to him. 

" In every sense in which the question can be considered, 
the reciprocal obligation which subsisted between us is dis- 
solved. He holds no longer any authority. We owe him 
no longer obedience. We see in him no more than an in- 
different person ; we can regard him only as Louis Capet. 

" The history of France presents little else than a long 
series of public calamity, which takes its source from the 
vices of Kings ; we have been the wretched victims that have 
never ceased to suffer either for them or by them. The 
catalogue of their oppressions was complete, but to complete 
the sum of their crimes, treason was yet wanting. Now the 
only vacancy is filled up, the dreadful list is full ; the system 
is exhausted ; there are no remaining errors for them to 
commit ; their reign is consequently at an end. 

" What kind of office must that be in a government which 
requires for its execution neither experience nor ability, that 
may be abandoned to the desperate chance of birth, that 
may be filled by an idiot, a madman, a tyrant, with equal 
effect as by the good, the virtuous, and the wise ? An office 
of this nature is a mere nonentity ; it is a place of show, not 
of use. Let France then, arrived at the age of reason, no longer 
be deluded by the sound of words, and let her deliberately 
examine, if a King, however insignificant and contemptible in 
himself, may not at the same time be extremely dangerous. 

" The thirty millions which it costs to support a King in 
the eclat of stupid brutal luxury, presents us with an easy 
method of reducing taxes, which reduction would at once 
relieve the people, and stop the progress of political corrup- 
tion. The grandeur of nations consists, not, as Kings pre- 
tend, in the splendour of thrones, but in a conspicuous sense 
of their own dignity, and in a just disdain of those barbarous 
follies and crimes which, under the sanction of Royalty, have 
hitherto desolated Europe. 

"As to the personal safety of Louis Capet, it is so much 
the more confirmed, as France will not stoop to degrade her- 






1791] 



THE REPUBLICAN PROCLAMATION. 



self by a spirit of revenge against a wretch who has dis- 
honoured himself. In defending a just and glorious cause, 
it is not possible to degrade it, and the universal tranquillity 
which prevails is an undeniable proof that a free people 
know how to respect themselves." 




II. 

TO THE AUTHORS OF " LE R&PUBLICAIN." » 

Gentlemen : 

M. DUCHATELET has mentioned to me the intention of 
some persons to commence a work under the title of " The 
Republican." 

As I am a Citizen of a country which knows no other 
Majesty than that of the People ; no other Government than 
that of the Representative body ; no other sovereignty than 
that of the Laws, and which is attached to France both by 
alliance and by gratitude, I voluntarily offer you my services 
in support of principles as honorable to a nation as they are 
adapted to promote the happiness of mankind. I offer 
them to you with the more zeal, as I know the moral, 
literary, and political character of those who are engaged 
in the undertaking, and find myself honoured in their good 
opinion. 

But I must at the same time observe, that from ignorance 
of the French language, my works must necessarily undergo 
a translation ; they can of course be of but little utility, and 
my offering must consist more of wishes than services. I 
must add, that I am obliged to pass a part of this summer in 
England and Ireland. 

As the public has done me the unmerited favor of recog- 
nizing me under the appellation of " Common Sense." which 
is my usual signature, I shall continue it in this publication 

1 " Le Republicain ; ou le Defenseur du gouvernement Representatif. Tar 
une Societe des Republicans. A Paris. July, 1791." See Introduction to 
this volume. — Editor. 



I79 1 ] TO THE AUTHORS OF "LE R£PUB£JCAIN. n 5 

to avoid mistakes, and to prevent my being supposed the 
author of works not my own. As to my political prin- 
ciples, I shall endeavour, in this letter, to trace their general 
features in such a manner, as that they cannot be mis- 
understood. 

It is desirable in most instances to avoid that which may 
give even the least suspicion as to the part meant to be 
adopted, and particularly on the present occasion, where a 
perfect clearness of expression is necessary to the avoidance 
of any possible misinterpretation. I am happy, therefore, to 
find, that the work in question is entitled " The Republican." 
This word expresses perfectly the idea which we ought to 
have of Government in general — Res Publica — the public 
affairs of a nation. 

As to the word MonarcJiy, though the address and intrigue 
of Courts have rendered it familiar, it does not contain the 
less of reproach or of insult to a nation. The word, in its 
immediate or original sense, signifies the absolute poiver of a 
single individual, who may prove a fool, an hypocrite, or a 
tyrant. The appellation admits of no other interpretation 
than that which is here given. France is therefore not a 
MonarcJiy ; it is insulted when called by that name. The 
servile spirit which characterizes this species of government 
is banished from France, and this country, like America, 
can now afford to Monarchy no more than a glance of 
disdain. 

Of the errors which monarchic ignorance or knavery has 
spread through the world, the one which bears the marks of 
the most dexterous invention, is the opinion that the system 
of Republicanism is only adapted to a small country, and 
that a MonarcJiy is suited, on the contrary, to those of 
greater extent. Such is the language of Courts, and such the 
sentiments which they have caused to be adopted in mon- 
archic countries; but the opinion is contrary, at the same 
time, to principle and to experience. 

The Government, to be of real use, should possess a 
complete knowledge of all the parties, all the circumstances, 
and all the interests of a nation. The monarchic system, in 



6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1791 

consequence, instead of being suited to a country of great 
extent, would be more admissible in a small territory, where 
an individual may be supposed to know the affairs and the 
interests of the whole. But when it is attempted to extend 
this individual knowledge to the affairs of a great country, 
the capacity of knowing bears no longer any proportion to 
the extent or multiplicity of the objects which ought to be 
known, and the government inevitably falls from ignorance 
into tyranny. For the proof of this position we need only 
look to Spain, Russia, Germany, Turkey, and the whole of 
the Eastern Continent, — countries, for the deliverance of 
which I offer my most sincere wishes. 

On the contrary, the true Republican system, by Election 
and Representation, offers the only means which are known, 
and, in my opinion, the only means which are possible, of 
proportioning the wisdom and the information of a Govern- 
ment to the extent of a country. 

The system of Representation is the strongest and most 
powerful center that can be devised for a nation. Its attrac- 
tion acts so powerfully, that men give it their approbation 
even without reasoning on the cause ; and France, however 
distant its several parts, finds itself at this moment an whole, 
in its central Representation. The citizen is assured that his 
rights are protected, and the soldier feels that he is no longer 
the slave of a Despot, but that he is become one of the Na- 
tion, and interested of course in its defence. 

The states at present styled Republican, as Holland, 
Genoa, Venice, Berne, &c. are not only unworthy the name, 
but are actually in opposition to every principle of a Repub- 
lican government, and the countries submitted to their power 
are, truly speaking, subject to an Aristocratic slavery ! 

It is, perhaps, impossible, in the first steps which are made 
in a Revolution, to avoid all kind of error, in principle or in 
practice, or in some instances to prevent the combination of 
both. Before the sense of a nation is sufficiently enlight- 
ened, and before men have entered into the habits of a free 
communication with each other of their natural thoughts, a 



1791] TO THE AUTHORS OF lt L£ RE\PUBLICAIX." J 

certain reserve — a timid prudence seizes on the human 
mind, and prevents it from obtaining its level with that vigor 
and promptitude that belongs to right. — An example of this 
influence discovers itself in the commencement of the present 
Revolution : but happily this discovery has been made be- 
fore the Constitution was completed, and in time to provide 
a remedy. 

The hereditary succession can never exist as a matter of 
right; it is a nullity — a ?wthing. To admit the idea is to 
regard man as a species of property belonging to some indi- 
viduals, either born or to be born ! It is to consider our 
descendants, and all posterity, as mere animals without a 
right or will ! It is, in fine, the most base and humiliating 
idea that ever degraded the human species, and which, for 
the honor of Humanity, should be destroyed for ever. 

The idea of hereditary succession is so contrary to the 
rights of man, that if we were ourselves to be recalled to 
existence, instead of being replaced by our posterity, we 
should not have the right of depriving ourselves beforehand 
of those rights which would then properly belong to us. On 
what ground, then, or by what authority, do we dare to de- 
prive of their rights those children who will soon be men ? 
Why are we not struck with the injustice which we perpe- 
trate on our descendants, by endeavouring to transmit them 
as a vile herd to masters whose vices are all that can be 
foreseen. 

Whenever the FrencJi constitution shall be rendered con- 
formable to its Declaration of Rights, we shall then be en- 
abled to give to France, and with justice, the appellation of 
a civic Empire ; for its government will be the empire of 
laws founded on the great republican principles of Elective 
Representation, and the Rights of Man. — But Monarchy and 
Hereditary Succession are incompatible with the basis of its 
constitution. 

I hope that I have at present sufficiently proved to you 
that I am a good Republican ; and I have such a confidence 
in the truth of the principles, that I doubt not they will 



8 



THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. 



[I79I 



soon be as universal in France as in America. The pride 

of human nature will assist their evidence, will contribute to 

their establishment, and men will be ashamed of Monarchy. 

I am, with respect, Gentlemen, your friend, 

Thomas Paine. 

Paris, June, 1791. 







III. 

TO THE ABBE SIEYES. 



Paris, 8th July, 1791. 

Sir, 

At the moment of my departure for England, I read, in 
the Moniteur of Tuesday last, your letter, in which you give 
the challenge, on the subject of Government, and offer to 
defend what is called the MonarcJiical opinion against the 
Republican system. 

I accept of your challenge with pleasure ; and I place such 
a confidence in the superiority of the Republican system over 
that nullity of a system, called Monarchy, that I engage not 
to exceed the extent of fifty pages, and to leave you the 
liberty of taking as much latitude as you may think proper. 

The respect which I bear your moral and literary reputa- 
tion, will be your security for my candour in the course of 
this discussion ; but, notwithstanding that I shall treat the 
subject seriously and sincerely, let me promise, that I con- 
sider myself at liberty to ridicule, as they deserve, Monar- 
chical absurdities, whensoever the occasion shall present 
itself. 

By Republicanism, I do not understand what the name 
signifies in Holland, and in some parts of Italy. I under- 
stand simply a government by representation — a government 
founded upon the principles of the Declaration of Rights ; 
principles to which several parts of the French Constitution 
arise in contradiction. The Declaration of Rights of France 
and America arc but one and the same thing in principles, 
and almost in expressions; and this is the Republicanism 

1 Written to the Moniteur in reply to a letter of the Abbe (July S) elicited by 
Faine's letter to " Le Republicain " (II.). The Able now declining a contro- 
versy, Paine dealt with his views in " Rights of Man," Part II., ch. 3. — /: 



10 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1791 

which I undertake to defend against what is called Monarchy 
and Aristocracy. 

I see with pleasure, that in respect to one point we are 
already agreed ; and that is, the extreme danger of a civil list 
of thirty millions. I can discover no reason why one of the 
parts of the government should be supported with so ex- 
travagant a profusion, whilst the other scarcely receives what 
is sufficient for its common wants. 

This dangerous and dishonourable disproportion at once 
supplies the one with the means of corrupting, and throws 
the other into the predicament of being corrupted. In 
America there is but little difference, with regard to this 
point, between the legislative and the executive part of our 
government ; but the first is much better attended to than 
it is in France. 

In whatsoever manner, Sir, I may treat the subject of 
which you have proposed the investigation, I hope that you 
will not doubt my entertaining for you the highest esteem. 
I must also add, that I am not the personal enemy of Kings. 
Quite the contrary. No man more heartily wishes than my- 
self to see them all in the happy and honourable state of 
private individuals ; but I am the avowed, open, and intrepid 
enemy of what is called Monarchy ; and I am such by prin- 
ciples which nothing can either alter or corrupt — by my at- 
tachment to humanity ; by the anxiety which I feel within 
myself, for the dignity and the honour of the human race ; 
by the disgust which I experience, when I observe men 
directed by children, and governed by brutes ; by the horror 
which all the evils that Monarchy has spread over the earth 
excite within my breast ; and by those sentiments which 
make me shudder at the calamities, the exactions, the wars, 
and the massacres with which Monarchy has crushed man- 
kind : in short, it is against all the hell of monarchy that I 
have declared war. THOMAS PAINE. 1 

1 To the sixth paragraph of the above letter is appended a footnote : "A 
deputy to the congress receives about a guinea and a half daily : and provisions 
are cheaper in America than in France." The American Declaration of Rights 
referred to, unless the Declaration of Independence, was no doubt, especially 
that r»f Pennsylvania, which Paine helped to frame. — Editor. 



IV. 
TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

[Undated, but probably late in May, 1792.] 

Sir, 

THOUGH I have some reason for believing that you were 
not the original promoter or encourager of the prosecution 
commenced against the work entitled " Rights of Man" 
either as that prosecution is intended to affect the author, 
the publisher, or the public ; yet as you appear the official 
person therein, I address this letter to you, not as Sir Archi- 
bald Macdonald, but as Attorney General. 

You began by a prosecution against the publisher Jordan, 
and the reason assigned by Mr. Secretary Dundas, in the 
House of Commons, in the debate on the Proclamation, May 
25, for taking that measure, was, he said, because Mr. Paine 
could not be found, or words to that effect. Mr. Paine, sir, 
so far from secreting himself, never went a step out of his 
way, nor in the least instance varied from his usual conduct, 
to avoid any measure you might choose to adopt with re- 
spect to him. It is on the purity of his heart, and the uni- 
versal utility of the principles and plans which his writings 
contain, that he rests the issue ; and he will not dishonour it 
by any kind of subterfuge. The apartments which he oc- 
cupied at the time of writing the work last winter, he has 
continued to occupy to the present hour, and the solicitors 
of the prosecution knew where to find him ; of which there 
is a proof in their own office, as far back as the 21st of Ma)', 
and also in the office of my own Attorney.' 

1 Paine was residing at the house of one of his publishers, Thomas Rickman, 
7 Upper Marylebone Street, London. II is Attorney was the Hon. Thomas 
E rsk i n c . — Editor . 



12 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

But admitting, for the sake of the case, that the reason for 
proceeding against the publisher was, as Mr. Dundas stated, 
that Mr. Paine could not be found, that reason can now 
exist no longer. 

The instant that I was informed that an information was 
preparing to be filed against me, as the author of, I believe, 
one of the most useful and benevolent books ever offered to 
mankind, I directed my Attorney to put in an appearance ; 
and as I shall meet the prosecution fully and fairly, and with 
a good and upright conscience, I have a right to expect that 
no act of littleness will be made use of on the part of the 
prosecution towards influencing the future issue with respect 
to the author. This expression may, perhaps, appear obscure 
to you, but I am in the possession of some matters which 
serve to shew that the action against the publisher is not in- 
tended to be a real action. If, therefore, any persons con- 
cerned in the prosecution have found their cause so weak, as 
to make it appear convenient to them to enter into a negocia- 
tion with the publisher, whether for the purpose of his sub- 
mitting to a verdict, and to make use of the verdict so 
obtained as a circumstance, by way of precedent, on a future 
trial against myself ; or for any other purpose not fully 
made known to me ; if, I say, I have cause to suspect this 
to be the case, I shall most certainly withdraw the de- 
fence I should otherwise have made, or promoted on his 
(the publisher's) behalf, and leave the negociators to them- 
selves, and shall reserve the whole of the defence for the 
real trial. 1 

But, sir, for the purpose of conducting this matter with at 
least the appearance of fairness and openness, that shall 
justify itself before the public, whose cause it really is, (for 
it is the right of public discussion and investigation that is 
questioned,) I have to propose to you to cease the prose- 
cution against the publisher ; and as the reason or pretext 
can no longer exist for continuing it against him because 
Mr. Paine could not be found, that you would direct 

1 A detailed account of the proceedings with regard to the publisher will be 
found infra, in ix., Letter to the Addressers. — Editor. 



1 79-] TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. 1 3 

the whole process against mo, with whom the prosecuting 
party will not find it possible to enter into any private 
negociation. 

I will do the cause full justice, as well for the sake of the 
nation, as for my own reputation. 

Another reason for discontinuing the process against the 
publisher is, because it can amount to nothing. First, be- 
cause a jury in London cannot decide upon the fact of pub- 
lishing beyond the limits of the jurisdiction of London, and 
therefore the work may be republished over and over again 
in every county in the nation, and every case must have a 
separate process ; and by the time that three or four hun- 
dred prosecutions have been had, the eyes of the nation will 
then be fully open to see that the work in question contains 
a plan the best calculated to root out all the abuses of gov- 
ernment, and to lessen the taxes of the nation upwards of 
six millions annually. 

Secondly, Because though the gentlemen of London may 
be very expert in understanding their particular professions 
and occupations, and how to make business contracts with 
government beneficial to themselves as individuals, the rest 
of the nation may not be disposed to consider them suffi- 
ciently qualified nor authorized to determine for the whole 
Nation on plans of reform, and on systems and principles of 
Government. This would be in effect to erect a jury into a 
National Convention, instead of electing a Convention, and 
to lay a precedent for the probable tyranny of juries, under 
the pretence of supporting their rights. 

That the possibility always exists of packing juries will 
not be denied ; and, therefore, in all cases, where Govern- 
ment is the prosecutor, more especially in those where the 
right of public discussion and investigation of principles and 
systems of Government is attempted to be suppressed by a 
verdict, or in those where the object of the work that is pros- 
ecuted is the reform of abuse and the abolition of sinecure 
places and pensions, in all these cases the verdict of a jury 
will itself become a subject of discussion ; and therefore, it 
furnishes an additional reason for discontinuing the prose- 



14 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

cution against the publisher, more especially as it is not a 
secret that there has been a negociation with him for se- 
cret purposes, and for proceeding against me only. I shall 
make a much stronger defence than what I believe the 
Treasury Solicitor's agreement with him will permit him 
to do. 

I believe that Mr. Burke, finding himself defeated, and not 
being able to make any answer to the Rights of Man, has 
been one of the promoters of this prosecution ; and I shall 
return the compliment to him by shewing, in a future pub- 
lication, that he has been a masked pensioner at 1500/. per 
annum for about ten years. 

Thus it is that the public money is wasted, and the dread 
of public investigation is produced. 

I am, sir, 
Your obedient humble servant, 

Thomas Paine. 1 

1 Paine's case was set down for June 8th, and on that day he appeared in 
court ; but, much to his disappointment, the trial was adjourned to December 
1 8th, at which time he was in his place in the National Convention at Paris. — 
Editor. 







V. 
TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 1 

London, June 6, 1792. 

Sir, 

As you opened the debate in the House of Commons, 
May 25th, on the proclamation for suppressing publications, 
which that proclamation (without naming any) calls wicked 
and seditious: and as you applied those opprobious epithets 
to the works entitled " RIGHTS OF Man," I think it un- 
necessary to offer any other reason for addressing this letter 
to you. 

I begin, then, at once, by declaring, that I do not believe 
there are found in the writings of any author, ancient or 
modern, on the subject of government, a spirit of greater 
benignity, and a stronger inculcation of moral principles 
than in those which I have published. They come, Sir, 
from a man, who, by having lived in different countries, and 
under different systems of government, and who, being inti- 
mate in the construction of them, is a better judge of the 
subject than it is possible that you, from the want of those 
opportunities, can be : — And besides this, they come from a 
heart that knows not how to beguile. 

I will farther say, that when that moment arrives in which 
the best consolation that shall be left will be looking back 
on some past actions, more virtuous and more meritorious 
than the rest, I shall then with happiness remember, among 
other things, I have written the RIGHTS OF Man. — As to 
what proclamations, or prosecutions, or place-men, and place- 

1 Henry D. (afterwards Viscount Melville), appointed Secretary for the 
Home Department, 1791. In 1805 he was impeached by the Commoni for 

" gross malversation" while Treasurer of the Navy ; he was acquitted by the 
Lords (1806), but not by public sentiment or by history. — Editor. 



1 6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

expectants, — those who possess, or those who are gaping for 
office, — may say of them, it will not alter their character, 
either with the world or with me. 

Having, Sir, made this declaration, I shall proceed to re- 
mark, not particularly on your speech on that occasion, but 
on any one to which your motion on that day gave rise ; 
and I shall begin with that of Mr. Adam. 

This Gentleman accuses me of not having done the very 
thing that / have done, and which, he says, if I had done, he 
should not have accused me. 

Mr. Adam, in his speech, (see the Morning Chronicle of 
May 26,) says, 

" That he had well considered the subject of Constitutional Pub- 
lications, and was by no means ready to say (but the contrary) 
that books of science upon government though recommending a 
doctrine or system different from the form of our constitution 
(meaning that of England) were fit objects of prosecution ; that 
if he did, he must condemn Harrington for his Oceana, Sir 
Thomas More for his Eutopia, and Hume for his Idea of a per- 
fect Commonwealth. But (continued Mr. Adam) the publica- 
tion of Mr. Paine was very different ; for it reviled what was 
most sacred in the constitution, destroyed every principle of 
subordination, and established nothing in their room." 

I readily perceive that Mr. Adam has not read the Seco7id 
Part of Rights of Man, and I am put under the necessity, 
either of submitting to an erroneous charge, or of justifying 
myself against it ; and certainly shall prefer the latter. — If, 
then, I shall prove to Mr. Adam, that in my reasoning upon 
systems of government, in the Second Part of Rights of 
Man, I have shown as clearly, I think, as words can convey 
ideas, a certain system of government, and that not existing 
in theory only, but already in full and established practice, 
and systematically and practically free from all the vices 
and defects of the English government, and capable of pro- 
ducing more happiness to the people, and that also with an 
eightieth part of the taxes, which the present English system 
of government consumes ; I hope he will do me the justice, 
when he next goes to the House, to get up and confess he 



I79 2 ] TO MR. SECRETARY DUN DAS. 1 7 

had been mistaken in saying, that I had established nothing, 
and that I had destroyed every principle of subordination. 
Having thus opened the case, I now come to the point. 

In the Second Part of the Rights OF Man, I have dis- 
tinguished government into two classes or systems : the one 
the hereditary system, the other the representative system. 

In the First Part of Rights of Man, I have endeavoured 
to shew, and I challenge any man to refute it, that there 
does not exist a right to establish hereditary government ; 
or, in other words, hereditary governors ; because hereditary 
government always means a government yet to come, and 
the case always is, that the people who are to live after- 
wards, have always the same right to choose a government 
for themselves, as the people had who lived before them. 

In the Second Part of Rights of Man, I have not repeated 
those arguments, because they are irrefutable ; but have 
confined myself to shew the defects of what is called heredi- 
tary government, or hereditary succession, that it must, 
from the nature of it, throw government into the hands of 
men totally unworthy of it, from want of principle, or unfit- 
ted for it from want of capacity .—James the lid. is recorded 
as an instance of the first of these cases ; and instances are 
to be found almost all over Europe to prove the truth of the 
latter. 

To shew the absurdity of the Hereditary System still 
more strongly, I will now put the following case : — Take any 
fifty men promiscuously, and it will be very extraordinary, 
if, out of that number, one man should be found, whose 
principles and talents taken together (for some might have 
principles, and others might have talents) would render him 
a person truly fitted to fill any very extraordinary office of 
National Trust. If then such a fitness of character could 
not be expected to be found in more than one person out of 
fifty, it would happen but once in a thousand years to the 
eldest son of any one family, admitting each, on an average, 
to hold the office twenty years. Mr. Adam talks of some- 
thing in the Constitution which he calls most sacred ; but I 
hope he does not mean hereditary succession, a thing which 



1 8 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

appears to me a violation of every order of nature, and of 
common sense. 

When I look into history and see the multitudes of men, 
otherwise virtuous, who have died, and their families been 
ruined, in the defence of knaves and fools, and which they 
would not have done, had they reasoned at all upon the 
system ; I do not know a greater good that an individual 
can render to mankind, than to endeavour to break the 
chains of political superstition. Those chains are now dis- 
solving fast, and proclamations and persecutions will serve 
but to hasten that dissolution. 

Having thus spoken of the Hereditary System as a bad 
System, and subject to every possible defect, I now come to 
the Representative System, and this Mr. Adam will find 
stated in the Second Part of Rights of Man, not only as the 
best, but as the only Theory of Government under which the 
liberties of the people can be permanently secure. 

But it is needless now to talk of mere theory, since there 
is already a government in full practice, established upon 
that theory ; or in other words, upon the Rights of Man, 
and has been so for almost twenty years. Mr. Pitt, in a 
speech of his some short time since, said, " That there never 
did, and never could exist a Government established upon 
those Rights, and that if it began at noon, it would end at 
night." Mr. Pitt has not yet arrived at the degree of a 
school-boy in this species of knowledge; his practice has 
been confined to the means of extorting revenue, and his 
boast has been — how much / Whereas the boast of the 
system of government that I am speaking of, is not how 
much, but how little. 

The system of government purely representative, un- 
mixed with any thing of hereditary nonsense, began in 
America. I will now compare the effects of that system of 
government with the system of government in England, 
both during, and since the close of the war. 

So powerful is the Representative system, first, by com- 
bining and consolidating all the parts of a country together, 
however great the extent ; and, secondly, by admitting of 



1792] TO MR. SECRETARY DUN DAS. 1 9 

none but men properly qualified into the government, or 
dismissing them if they prove to be otherwise, that America 
was enabled thereby totally to defeat and overthrow all the 
schemes and projects of the hereditary government of Eng- 
land against her. As the establishment of the Revolution 
and Independence of America is a proof of this fact, it is 
needless to enlarge upon it. 

I now come to the comparative effect of the two systems 
since the close of the war, and I request Mr. Adam to 
attend to it. 

America had internally sustained the ravages of upwards 
of seven years of war, which England had not. England 
sustained only the expence of the war ; whereas America 
sustained not only the expence, but the destruction of 
property committed by both armies. Not a house was built 
during that period, and many thousands were destroyed. 
The farms and plantations along the coast of the country, 
for more than a thousand miles, were laid waste. Her com- 
merce was annihilated. Her ships were either taken, or had 
rotted within her own harbours. The credit of her funds 
had fallen upwards of ninety per cent., that is, an original 
hundred pounds would not sell for ten pounds. In fine, she 
was apparently put back an hundred years when the war 
closed, which was not the case with England. 

But such was the event, that the same representative sys- 
tem of government, though since better organized, which 
enabled her to conquer, enabled her also to recover, and she 
now presents a more flourishing condition, and a more happy 
and harmonized society, under that system of government, 
than any country in the world can boast under any other. 
Her towns are rebuilt, much better than before ; her farms 
and plantations are in higher improvement than ever ; her 
commerce is spread over the world, and her funds have 
risen from less than ten pounds the hundred to upwards of 
one hundred and twenty. Mr. Pitt and his colleagues talk 
of the things that have happened in his boyish administra- 
tion, without knowing what greater things have happened 
elsewhere, and under other systems of government. 



20 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

I now come to state the expence of the two systems, as 
they now stand in each of the countries ; but it may first be 
proper to observe, that government in America is what it 
ought to be, a matter of honour and trust, and not made a 
trade of for the purpose of lucre. 

The whole amount of the nett taxes in England (exclusive 
of the expence of collection, of drawbacks, of seizures and 
condemnation, of fines and penalties, of fees of office, of 
litigations and informers, which are some of the blessed 
means of enforcing them) is seventeen millions. Of this 
sum, about nine millions go for the payment of the interest 
of the national debt, and the remainder, being about eight 
millions, is for the current annual expences. This much for 
one side of the case. I now come to the other. 

The expence of the several departments of the gen- 
eral Representative Government of the United States of 
America, extending over a space of country nearly ten times 
larger than England, is two hundred and ninety-four thou- 
sand, five hundred and fifty-eight dollars, which, at 4s. 6d. 
per dollar, is 66,305/ us, sterling, and is thus apportioned ; 

Expence of the Executive Department. 

The Office of Presidency, for which the President 

receives nothing for himself [see p. 23, note] 5,625/. os. 

Vice President 1,125 ° 

Chief-justice 900 o 

Five associate Justices 3,937 IO 

Nineteen Judges of Districts, and Attorney-general... 6,873 J 5 

Legislative Department. 

Members of Congress at 6 dolls. (1/. 7^.) per day, 
their Secretaries, Clerks, Chaplains, Messengers, 
Door-keepers, &c 25,5 15/. o 

Treasury Department. 

Secretary, Assistant, Comptroller, Auditor, Treasurer, 
Register, and Loan-Office Keeper, in each State, 
together with all necessary Clerks, Office Keep- 
ers, &c 1 2,825 o 



I79 2 ] TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 21 

Department of State, including Foreign Affairs. 
Secretary, Clerks, &c, &c i ,406 5 

Department of War. 
Secretary, Clerks, Paymasters, Commissioners, &c. . . 1,462 10 

Commissioners for settling Old Accounts. 
The whole Board, Clerks, &c 2 ,598 15 

Incidental and Contingent expences. 
For Fire-wood, Stationery, Printing, &c 4,006 16 

Total 66,275 * 1 

On account of the incursions of the Indians on the back 
settlements, Congress is at this time obliged to keep six thou- 
sand militia in pay, in addition to a regiment of foot, and a 
battalion of artillery, which it always keeps ; and this increases 
the expence of the War Department to 390,000 dollars, which 
is 87,795/. sterling, but when peace shall be concluded with 
the Indians, the greatest part of this expence will cease, and 
the total amount of the expence of government, including 
that of the army, will not amount to 100,000/. sterling, 
which, as has been already stated, is but an eightieth part of 
the expences of the English government. 

I request Mr. Adam and Mr. Dundas, and all those who 
are talking of Constitutions, and blessings, and Kings, and 
Lords, and the Lord knows what, to look at this statement. 
Here is a form and system of government, that is better or- 
ganized and better administered than any government in 
the world, and that for less than one hundred thousand 
pounds per annum, and yet every Member of Congress re- 
ceives, as a compensation for his time and attendance on 
public business, one pound seven shillings per day, which is 
at the rate of nearly five hundred pounds a year. 

This is a government that has nothing to fear. It needs 
no proclamations to deter people from writing and reading. 
It needs no political superstition to support it ; it was by 



22 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

encouraging discussion and rendering the press free upon all 
subjects of government, that the principles of government 
became understood in America, and the people are now en- 
joying the present blessings under it. You hear of no riots, 
tumults, and disorders in that country ; because there exists 
no cause to produce them. Those things are never the 
effect of Freedom, but of restraint, oppression, and excessive 
taxation. 

In America, there is not that class of poor and wretched 
people that are so numerously dispersed all over England, 
who are to be told by a proclamation, that they are happy ; 
and this is in a great measure to be accounted for, not by 
the difference of proclamations, but by the difference of 
governments and the difference of taxes between that coun- 
try and this. What the labouring people of that country earn, 
they apply to their own use, and to the education of their 
children, and do not pay it away in taxes as fast as they earn 
it, to support Court extravagance, and a long enormous list 
of place-men and pensioners ; and besides this, they have 
learned the manly doctrine of reverencing themselves, and 
consequently of respecting each other ; and they laugh at 
those imaginary beings called Kings and Lords, and all the 
fraudulent trumpery of Court. 

When place-men and pensioners, or those who expect to 
be such, are lavish in praise of a government, it is not a sign 
of its being a good one. The pension list alone in England 
(see sir John Sinclair's History of the Revenue, p. 6, of the 
Appendix) is one hundred and seven thousand four hundred 
and four pounds, which is more titan the expences of the whole 
Government of America amount to. And I am now more 
convinced than before, that the offer that was made to me 
of a thousand pounds for the copy-right of the second part 
of the Rights of Man, together with the remaining copy- 
right of the first part, was to have effected, by a quick sup- 
pression, what is now attempted to be done by a prosecution. 
The connection which the person, who made the offer, has 
with the King's printing-office, may furnish part of the means 
of inquiring into this affair, when the ministry shall please to 



I79 2 J TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 2$ 

bring their prosecution to issue. ' But to return to my 
subject. — 

I have said in the second part of the Rights of Man, and 
I repeat it here, that the service of any man, whether called 
King, President, Senator, Legislator, or any thing else, can- 
not be worth more to any country, in the regular routine of 
office, than ten thousand pounds per annum. We have a 
better man in America, and more of a gentleman, than any 
King I ever knew of, who does not occasion half that ex- 
pence ; for, though the salary is fixed at £5625 he does not 
accept it, and it is only the incidental expences that are paid 
out of it. 3 The name by which a man is called is of itself 
but an empty thing. It is worth and character alone which 
can render him valuable, for without these, Kings, and Lords, 
and Presidents, are but jingling names. 

But without troubling myself about Constitutions of Gov- 
ernment, I have shewn in the Second Part of Rights of Man, 
that an alliance may be formed between England, France, 
and America, and that the expences of government in Eng- 
land may be put back to one million and a half, viz. : 

Civil expence of Government . . 500,000/. 
Army ....... 500,000 

Navy ....... 500,000 



1,500,000/. 



And even this sum is fifteen times greater than the ex- 
pences of government are in America ; and it is also greater 
than the whole peace establishment of England amounted to 
about an hundred years ago. So much has the weight and 
oppression of taxes increased since the Revolution, and 
especially since the year 1714. 

1 At Paine's trial, Chapman, the printer, in answer to a question of the So- 
licitor General, said : "I made him three separate offers in the different stages 
of the work ; the first, I believe, was a hundred guineas, the leoond five hundred, 
and the last was a thousand." — Editor. 

2 Error. See also ante, p. 20, and in vol. ii., p. 435. Washington had re- 
tracted his original announcement, and received his salary regularly. — Editor. 



24 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

To shew that the sum of 500,000/. is sufficient to defray 
all civil expences of government, I have, in that work, an- 
nexed the following estimate for any country of the same 
extent as England. — 

In the first place, three hundred Representatives, fairly 
elected, are sufficient for all the purposes to which Legislation 
can apply, and preferable to a larger number. 

If, then, an allowance, at the rate of 500/. per annum be 
made to every Representative, deducting for non-attendance, 
the expence, if the whole number attended six months each 
year, would be 75,000/. 

The Official Departments could not possibly 
exceed the following number, with the salaries 
annexed, viz. : 






Three offices 


at 


10,000/. 


each 


30,000 


Ten ditto 


at 


5,000 


tc 


50,000 


Twenty ditto 


at 


2,000 


a 


40,000 


Forty ditto 


at 


1,000 


it 


40,000 


Two hundred ditto 


at 


500 


a 


100,000 


Three hundred ditto 


at 


200 


u 


6o,000 


Five hundred ditto 


at 


100 


(4 


50,000 


Seven hundred ditto 


at 


75 


a 


5 2 >5°° 



497,500/. 

If a nation chose, it might deduct four per cent, from all 
the offices, and make one of twenty thousand pounds per 
annum, and style the person who should fill it, King or 
Madjesty, 1 or give him any other title. 

Taking, however, this sum of one million and a half, as an 
abundant supply for all the expences of government under 
any form whatever, there will remain a surplus of nearly six 
millions and a half out of the present taxes, after paying the 
interest of the national debt ; and I have shewn in the Sec- 

1 A friend of Paine advised him against this pun, as too personal an allusion 
to George the Third, to whom however much has been forgiven on account of 
his mental infirmity. Yorke, in his account of his visit to Paine, 1802, alludes 
to his (Paine's) anecdotes " of humor and benevolence " concerning George III. 
— Editor. 



I79 2 ] TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 2$ 

ond Part of Rights of Man, what appears to mc, the best 
mode of applying the surplus money ; for I am now speak- 
ing of cxpences and savings, and not of systems of 
government. 

I have, in the first place, estimated the poor-rates at two 
millions annually, and shewn that the first effectual step 
would be to abolish the poor-rates entirely (which would be 
a saving of two millions to the house-keepers,) and to remit 
four millions out of the surplus taxes to the poor, to be paid 
to them in money, in proportion to the number of children 
in each family, and the number of aged persons. 

I have estimated the number of persons of both sexes in 
England, of fifty years of age and upwards, at 420,000, and 
have taken one third of this number, viz. 140,000, to be poor 
people. 

To save long calculations, I have taken 70,000 of them to 
be upwards of fifty years of age, and under sixty, and the 
others to be sixty years and upwards ; and to allow six 
pounds per annum to the former class, and ten pounds per 
annum to the latter. The expence of which will be, 

Seventy thousand persons at 61. per annum . . 420,000/. 
Seventy thousand persons at 10/. per annum . . 700,000 

1,120,000/. 

There will then remain of the four millions, 2,880,000/. I 
have stated two different methods of appropriating this 
money. The one is to pay it in proportion to the number 
of children in each family, at the rate of three or four pounds 
per annum for each child ; the other is to apportion it accord- 
ing to the expence of living in different counties ; but in 
either of these cases it would, together with the allowance to 
be made to the aged, completely take off taxes from one 
third of all the families in England, besides relieving all the 
other families from the burthen of poor-rates. 

The whole number of families in England, allotting five 
souls to each family, is one million four hundred thousand, 
of which I take one third, vie. 466,666 to be poor families 



26 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

who now pay four millions of taxes, and that the poorest 
pays at least four guineas a year ; and that the other thirteen 
millions are paid by the other two-thirds. The plan, there- 
fore, as stated in the work, is, first, to remit or repay, as is 
already stated, this sum of four millions to the poor, because 
it is impossible to separate them from the others in the 
present mode of collecting taxes on articles of consumption ; 
and, secondly, to abolish the poor-rates, the house and win- 
dow-light tax, and to change the commutation tax into a pro- 
gressive tax on large estates, the particulars of all which are 
set forth in the work, to which I desire Mr. Adam to refer for 
particulars. I shall here content myself with saying, that to a 
town of the population of Manchester, it will make a differ- 
ence in its favour, compared with the present state of things, 
of upwards of fifty thousand pounds annually, and so in 
proportion to ail other places throughout the nation. This 
certainly is of more consequence than that the same sums 
should be collected to be afterwards spent by riotous and 
profligate courtiers, and in nightly revels at the Star and 
Garter tavern, Pall Mall. 

I will conclude this part of my letter with an extract from 
the Second Part of the Rights of Man, which Mr. Dundas 
(a man rolling in luxury at the expence of the nation) has 
branded with the epithet of " wicked." 

" By the operation of this plan, the poor laws, those instru- 
ments of civil torture, will be superseded, and the wasteful ex- 
pence of litigation prevented. The hearts of the humane will 
not be shocked by ragged and hungry children, and persons of 
seventy and eighty years of age begging for bread. The dying 
poor will not be dragged from place to place to breathe their last, 
as a reprisal of parish upon parish. Widows will have a main- 
tenance for their children, and not be carted away, on the death 
of their husbands, like culprits and criminals ; and children will 
no longer be considered as increasing the distresses of their 
parents. The haunts of the wretched will be known, because it 
will be to their advantage ; and the number of petty crimes, the 
offspring of poverty and distress, will be lessened. The poor as 
well as the rich will then be interested in the support of Govern- 



I79 2 ] T0 MR. SECRETARY DUN DAS. 2J 

ment, and the cause and apprehension of riots and tumults will 
cease. Ye who sit in ease, and solace yourselves in plenty, and 
such there are in Turkey and Russia, as well as in England, and 
who say to yourselves, are we not well off? have ye thought of 
these things ? When ye do, ye will cease to speak and feel for 
yourselves alone." 

After this remission of four millions be made, and the 
poor-rates and houses and window-light tax be abolished, 
and the commutation tax changed, there will still remain 
nearly one million and a half of surplus taxes ; and as by 
an alliance between England, France and America, armies 
and navies will, in a great measure, be rendered unneces- 
sary ; and as men who have either been brought up in, or 
long habited to, those lines of life, are still citizens of a 
nation in common with the rest, and have a right to partici- 
pate in all plans of national benefit, it is stated in that work 
{Rights of Man, Part ii.) to apply annually 507,000/. out of 
the surplus taxes to this purpose, in the following manner : 

To fifteen thousand disbanded soldiers, 3s. per week 

(clear of deduction) during life .... 117,000/. 
Additional pay to the remaining soldiers, per annum . 19,500 
To the officers of the disbanded corps, during life, the 

sum of 117,000 

To fifteen thousand disbanded sailors, 3s. per week 

during life ........ 117,000 

Additional pay to the remaining sailors . . . 19,500 
To the officers of the disbanded part of the navy, 

during life 117,000 

507,000/. 

The limits to which it is proper to confine this letter, will 
not admit of my entering into further particulars. I address 
it to Mr. Dundas because he took the lead in the debate, and 
he wishes, I suppose, to appear conspicuous ; but the pur- 
port of it is to justify myself from the charge which Mr. 
Adam has made. 

This Gentleman, as has been observed in the beginning of 



2% THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

this letter, considers the writings of Harrington, More and 
Hume, as justifiable and legal publications, because they 
reasoned by comparison, though in so doing they shewed 
plans and systems of government, not only different from, 
but preferable to, that of England ; and he accuses me of 
endeavouring to confuse, instead of producing a system in 
the room of that which I had reasoned against ; whereas, 
the fact is, that I have not only reasoned by comparison of 
the representative system against the hereditary system, 
but I have gone further ; for I have produced an instance 
of a government established entirely on the representative 
system, under which greater happiness is enjoyed, much 
fewer taxes required, and much higher credit is established, 
than under the system of government in England. The 
funds in England have risen since the war only from $4/. to 
97/. and they have been down since the proclamation, to 
87/. whereas the funds in America rose in the mean time 
from 10/. to 120/. 

His charge against me of " destroying every principle of 
subordination," is equally as groundless; which even a single 
paragraph from the work will prove, and which I shall here 
quote : 

" Formerly when divisions arose respecting Governments, re- 
course was had to the sword, and a civil war ensued. That savage 
custom is exploded by the new system, and recourse is had to a 
national convention. Discussion, and the general will, arbitrates 
the question, and to this private opinion yields with a good grace, 
and order is preserved uninterrupted." 

That two different charges should be brought at the 
same time, the one by a Member of the Legislative, for not 
doing a certain thing, and the other by the Attorney General 
for doing it, is a strange jumble of contradictions. I have 
now justified myself, or the work rather, against the first, by 
stating the case in this letter, and the justification of the 
other will be undertaken in its proper place. But in any 
case the work will go on. 

I shall now conclude this letter with saying, that the only 



1792] TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 29 

objection I found against the plan and principles contained 
in the Second Part of Rights of Man, when I had written 
the book, was, that they would beneficially interest at least 
ninety-nine persons out of every hundred throughout the 
nation, and therefore would not leave sufficient room for 
men to act from the direct and disinterested principles of 
honour ; but the prosecution now commenced has fortu- 
nately removed that objection, and the approvers and protec- 
tors of that work now feel the immediate impulse of honour 
added to that of national interest. 

I am, Mr. Dundas, 

Not your obedient humble Servant, 
But the contrary, 

Thomas Paine. 




VI. 

LETTERS TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, 

Lord Lieutenant of the county of Surry ; on the subject of the late 
excellent proclamation : — or the chairman who shall preside 
at the meeting to be held at Epsom, June 18. 

FIRST LETTER. 

London, June 17th, 1792. 

Sir, 

I HAVE seen in the public newspapers the following ad- 
vertisement, to wit — 

" To the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders, and other In- 
habitants of the county of Surry. 

" At the requisition and desire of several of the freeholders of 
the county, I am, in the absence of the Sheriff, to desire the 
favour of your attendance, at a meeting to be held at Epsom, on 
Monday, the 18th instant, at 12 o'clock at noon, to consider of 
an humble address to his majesty, to express our grateful appro- 
bation of his majesty's paternal, and well-timed attendance to 
the public welfare, in his late most gracious Proclamation against 
the enemies of our happy Constitution. 

(Signed.) Onslow Cranley." 

Taking it for granted, that the aforesaid advertisement, 
equally as obscure as the proclamation to which it refers, 
has nevertheless some meaning, and is intended to effect 
some purpose ; and as a prosecution (whether wisely or un- 
wisely, justly or unjustly) is already commenced against a 
work intitled RIGHTS OF MAN, of which I have the honour 
and happiness to be the author ; I feel it necessary to address 
this letter to you, and to request that it may be read pub- 
licly to the gentlemen who shall meet at Epsom in conse- 
quence of the advertisement. 



I79 2 l TO LORD ONSLOW. 3 1 

The work now under prosecution is, I conceive, the same 
work which is intended to be suppressed by the aforesaid 
proclamation. Admitting this to be the case, the gentlemen 
of the county of Surry are called upon by somebody to con- 
demn a work, and they are at the same time forbidden by 
the proclamation to know what that work is ; and they are 
further called upon to give their aid and assistance to pre- 
vent other people from knowing it also. It is therefore 
necessary that the author, for his own justification, as well 
as to prevent the gentlemen who shall meet from being im- 
posed upon by misrepresentation, should give some outlines 
of the principles and plans which that work contains. 

The work, Sir, in question, contains, first, an investigation 
of general principles of government. 

It also distinguishes government into two classes or sys- 
tems, the one the hereditary system ; the other the repre- 
sentative system ; and it compares these two systems with 
each other. 

It shews that what is called hereditary government cannot 
exist as a matter of right ; because hereditary government 
always means a government yet to come ; and the case 
always is, that those who are to live afterwards have always 
the same right to establish a government for themselves as 
the people who had lived before them. 

It also shews the defect to which hereditary government 
is unavoidably subject : that it must, from the nature of it, 
throw government into the hands of men totally unworthy 
of it from the want of principle, and unfitted for it from 
want of capacity. James II. and many others are recorded 
in the English history as proofs of the former of those cases, 
and instances are to be found all over Europe to prove the 
truth of the latter. 

It then shews that the representative system is the only 
true system of government ; that it is also the only system 
under which the liberties of any people can be permanently 
secure ; and, further, that it is the only one that can con- 
tinue the same equal probability at all times of admitting 
of none but men properly qualified, both by principles and 



32 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

abilities, into government, and of excluding such as are 
otherwise. 

The work shews also, by plans and calculations not hitherto 
denied nor controverted, not even by the prosecution that 
is commenced, that the taxes now existing may be reduced 
at least six millions, that taxes may be entirely taken off 
from the poor, who are computed at one third of the nation ; 
and that taxes on the other two thirds may be considerably 
reduced ; that the aged poor may be comfortably provided 
for, and the children of poor families properly educated ; 
that fifteen thousand soldiers, and the same number of 
sailors, may be allowed three shillings per week during life 
out of the surplus taxes ; and also that a proportionate 
allowance may be made to the officers, and the pay of the 
remaining soldiers and sailors be raised ; and that it is 
better to apply the surplus taxes to those purposes, than to 
consume them on lazy and profligate placemen and pen- 
sioners ; and that the revenue, said to be twenty thousand 
pounds per annum, raised by a tax upon coals, and given to 
the Duke of Richmond, is a gross imposition upon all the 
people of London, and ought to be instantly abolished. 

This, Sir, is a concise abstract of the principles and plans 
contained in the work that is now prosecuted, and for the 
suppression of which the proclamation appears to be in- 
tended ; but as it is impossible that I can, in the compass of 
a letter, bring into view all the matters contained in the 
work, and as it is proper that the gentlemen who may com- 
pose that meeting should kuow what the merits or demerits 
of it are, before they come to any resolutions, either directly 
or indirectly relating thereto, I request the honour of pre- 
senting them with one hundred copies of the second part of 
the Rights of Man, and also one thousand copies of my 
letter to Mr. Dundas, which I have directed to be sent to 
Epsom for that purpose ; and I beg the favour of the 
Chairman to take the trouble of presenting them to the 
gentlemen who shall meet on that occasion, with my sin- 
cere wishes for their happiness, and for that of the nation in 
general. 



I79 2 ] TO LORD ONSLOW. 33 

Having now closed thus much of the subject of my letter, 
I next come to speak of what has relation to me personally. 
I am well aware of the delicacy that attends it, but the pur- 
pose of calling the meeting appears to me so inconsistent 
with that justice that is always due between man and man, 
that it is proper I should (as well on account of the gentle- 
men who may meet, as on my own account) explain myself 
fully and candidly thereon. 

I have already informed the gentlemen, that a prosecution 
is commenced against a work of which I have the honour 
and happiness to be the author ; and I have good reasons 
for believing that the proclamation which the gentlemen are 
called to consider, and to present an address upon, is pur- 
posely calculated to give an impression to the jury before 
whom that matter is to come. In short, that it is dictating 
a verdict by proclamation ; and I consider the instigators of 
the meeting to be held at Epsom, as aiding and abetting the 
same improper, and, in my opinion, illegal purpose, and that 
in a manner very artfully contrived, as I shall now shew. 

Had a meeting been called of the Freeholders of the 
county of Middlesex, the gentlemen who had composed that 
meeting would have rendered themselves objectionable as 
persons to serve on a Jury, before whom the judicial case 
was afterwards to come. But by calling a meeting out of 
the county of Middlesex, that matter is artfully avoided, and 
the gentlemen of Surry are summoned, as if it were in- 
tended thereby to give a tone to the sort of verdict which 
the instigators of the meeting no doubt wish should be 
brought in, and to give countenance to the Jury in so doing. 
I am, sir, 

With much respect to the 

Gentlemen who shall meet, 
Their and your obedient and humble Servant, 

Thomas Paine. 

vol in— 3 



34 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

TO ONSLOW CRANLEY, 

COMMONLY CALLED LORD ONSLOW. 

SECOND LETTER. 
SlR, London, June 21, 1792. 

WHEN I wrote you the letter which Mr. Home Tooke did 
me the favour to present to you, as chairman of the meeting 
held at Epsom, Monday, June 18, it was not with much ex- 
pectation that you would do me the justice of permitting, 
or recommending it to be publicly read. I am well aware 
that the signature of Thomas Paine has something in it 
dreadful to sinecure Placemen and Pensioners; and when 
you, on seeing the letter opened, informed the meeting that 
it was signed Thomas Paine, and added in a note of ex- 
clamation, " the common enemy of us all," you spoke one 
of the greatest truths you ever uttered, if you confine the 
expression to men of the same description with yourself; 
men living in indolence and luxury, on the spoil and labours 
of the public. 

The letter has since appeared in the " Argus," and proba- 
bly in other papers. 1 It will justify itself; but if any thing 
on that account hath been wanting, your conduct at the 
meeting would have supplied the omission. You there 
sufficiently proved that I was not mistaken in supposing 
that the meeting was called to give an indirect aid to the 
prosecution commenced against a work, the reputation of 
which will long outlive the memory of the Pensioner I am 
writing to. 

When meetings, Sir, are called by the partisans of the 
Court, to preclude the nation the right of investigating sys- 
tems and principles of government, and of exposing errors 
and defects, under the pretence of prosecuting an individual 
— it furnishes an additional motive for maintaining sacred 
that violated right. 

The principles and arguments contained in the work in 
question, Rights OF Man, have stood, and they now stand, 
and I believe ever will stand, unrefuted. They are stated in 
a fair and open manner to the world, and they have already 
received the public approbation of a greater number of men, 

1 The Argus was edited by Sampson Perry, soon after prosecuted. — Editor. 



I79 2 ] TO LORD ONSLOW. 35 

of the best of characters, of every denomination of religion, 
and of every rank in life, (placemen and pensioners ex- 
cepted,) than all the juries that shall meet in England, for 
ten years to come, will amount to ; and I have, moreover, 
good reasons for believing that the approvers of that work, 
as well private as public, are already more numerous than 
all the present electors throughout the nation. 

Not less than forty pamphlets, intended as answers thereto, 
have appeared, and as suddenly disappeared : scarcely are 
the titles of any of them remembered, notwithstanding their 
endeavours have been aided by all the daily abuse which the 
Court and Ministerial newspapers, for almost a year and a 
half, could bestow, both upon the work and the author ; and 
now that every attempt to refute, and every abuse has 
failed, the invention of calling the work a libel has been hit 
upon, and the discomfited party has pusillanimously re- 
treated to prosecution and a jury, and obscure addresses. 

As I well know that a long letter from me will not be 
agreeable to you, I will relieve your uneasiness by making 
it as short as I conveniently can ; and will conclude it with 
taking up the subject at that part where Mr. HORNE TOOKE 
was interrupted from going on when at the meeting. 

That gentleman was stating, that the situation you stood 
in rendered it improper for you to appear actively in a scene 
in which your private interest was too visible : that you were 
a Bedchamber Lord at a thousand a year, and a Pensioner 
at three thousand pounds a year more — and here he was 
stopped by the little but noisy circle you had collected 
round. Permit me then, Sir, to add an explanation to his 
words, for the benefit of your neighbours, and with which, 
and a few observations, I shall close my letter. 

When it was reported in the English Newspapers, some 
short time since, that the empress of Russia had given to 
one of her minions a large tract of country and several thou- 
sands of peasants as property, it very justly provoked indig- 
nation and abhorrence in those who heard it. But if we 
compare the mode practised in England, with that which 
appears to us so abhorrent in Russia, it will be found to 
amount to very near the same thing; — for example — 



36 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

As the whole of the revenue in England is drawn by taxes 
from the pockets of the people, those things called gifts and 
grants (of which kind are all pensions and sinecure places) 
are paid out of that stock. The difference, therefore, be- 
tween the two modes is, that in England the money is col- 
lected by the government, and then given to the Pensioner, 
and in Russia he is left to collect it for himself. The small- 
est sum which the poorest family in a county so near Lon- 
don as Surry, can be supposed to pay annually, of taxes, is 
not less than five pounds ; and as your sinecure of one thou- 
sand, and pension of three thousand per annum, are made 
up of taxes paid by eight hundred such poor families, it 
comes to the same thing as if the eight hundred families had 
been given to you, as in Russia, and you had collected the 
money on your account. Were you to say that you are not 
quartered particularly on the people of Surrey, but on the 
nation at large, the objection would amount to nothing ; for 
as there are more pensioners than counties, every one may 
be considered as quartered on that in which he lives. 

What honour or happiness you can derive from being the 
PRINCIPAL PAUPER of the neighbourhood, and occasioning 
a greater expence than the poor, the aged, and the infirm, 
for ten miles round you, I leave you to enjoy. At the same 
time I can see that it is no wonder you should be strenuous 
in suppressing a book which strikes at the root of those 
abuses. No wonder that you should be against reforms, 
against the freedom of the press, and the right of investiga- 
tion. To you, and to others of your description, these are 
dreadful things ; but you should also consider, that the mo- 
tives which prompt you to act, ought, by reflection, to com- 
pel you to be silent. 

Having now returned your compliment, and sufficiently 
tired your patience, I take my leave of you, with mention- 
ing, that if you had not prevented my former letter from 
being read at the meeting, you would not have had the 
trouble of reading this ; and also with requesting, that the 
next time you call me " a common enemy" you would add, 
11 of us sinecure placemen aud pensioners" 

I am, Sir, &C. &C. &C THOMAS PAINE. 



VII. 



TO THE 



SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX, 



OR, 



THE GENTLEMAN WHO SHALL PRESIDE AT THE MEETING 
TO BE HELD AT LEWES, JULY 4. 

London, June 30, 1792. 

Sir, 

I HAVE seen in the Lewes newspapers, of June 25, 
an advertisement, signed by sundry persons, and also by the 
sheriff, for holding a meeting at the Town-hall of Lewes, for 
the purpose, as the advertisement states, of presenting an 
Address on the late Proclamation for suppressing writings, 
books, &c. And as I conceive that a certain publication of 
mine, entitled " Rights of Man," in which, among other 
things, the enormous increase of taxes, placemen, and pen- 
sioners, is shewn to be unnecessary and oppressive, is the par- 
ticular writing alluded to in the said publication ; I request 
the Sheriff, or in his absence, whoever shall preside at the 
meeting, or any other person, to read this letter publicly to 
the company who shall assemble in consequence of that ad- 
vertisement. 

GENTLEMEN — It is now upwards of eighteen years since I 
was a resident inhabitant of the town of Lewes. My situa- 
tion among you, as an officer of the revenue, for more than 
six years, enabled me to see into the numerous and various 
distresses which the weight of taxes even at that time of day 
occasioned ; and feeling, as I then did, and as it is natural 
for me to do, for the hard condition of others, it is with 



38 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

pleasure I can declare, and every person then under my 
survey, and now living, can witness, the exceeding candour, 
and even tenderness, with which that part of the duty that 
fell to my share was executed. The name of Thomas Paine 
is not to be found in the records of the Lewes' justices, in 
any one act of contention with, or severity of any kind what- 
ever towards, the persons whom he surveyed, either in the 
town, or in the country ; of this, Mr. Fuller and Mr. Shelley, 
who will probably attend the meeting, can, if they please, 
give full testimony. It is, however, not in their power to 
contradict it. 

Having thus indulged myself in recollecting a place where 
I formerly had, and even now have, many friends, rich and 
poor, and most probably some enemies, I proceed to the 
more important purport of my letter. 

Since my departure from Lewes, fortune or providence 
has thrown me into a line of action, which my first setting 
out into life could not possibly have suggested to me. 

I have seen the fine and fertile country of America ravaged 
and deluged in blood, and the taxes of England enormously 
increased and multiplied in consequence thereof ; and this, 
in a great measure, by the instigation of the same class of 
placemen, pensioners, and Court dependants, who are now 
promoting addresses throughout England, on the present 
unintelligible Proclamation. 

I have also seen a system of Government rise up in that 
country, free from corruption, and now administered over 
an extent of territory ten times as large as England, for less 
expence than the pensions alone in England amount to ; and 
under which more freedom is enjoyed, and a more happy 
state of society is preserved, and a more general prosperity 
is promoted, than under any other system of Government 
now existing in the world. Knowing, as I do, the things I 
now declare, I should reproach myself with want of duty 
and affection to mankind, were I not in the most undismayed 
manner to publish them, as it were, on the house-tops, for 
the good of others. 

Having thus glanced at what has passed within my knowl- 



I79 2 J TO THE SHERIFF OF SUSSEX. 39 

edge, since my leaving Lewes, I come to the subject more 
immediately before the meeting now present. 

Mr. Edmund Burke, who, as I shall show, in a future pub- 
lication, has lived a concealed pensioner, at the expence of 
the public, of fifteen hundred pounds per annum, for about 
ten years last past, published a book the winter before last, 
in open violation of the principles of liberty, and for which 
he was applauded by that class of men who arc now promoting 
addresses. Soon after his book appeared, I published the 
first part of the work, entitled "Rights of Man," as an answer 
thereto, and had the happiness of receiving the public thanks 
of several bodies of men, and of numerous individuals of the 
best character, of every denomination in religion, and of every 
rank in life — placemen and pensioners excepted. 

In February last, I published the Second Part of u Rights 
of Man," and as it met with still greater approbation from 
the true friends of national freedom, and went deeper into 
the system of Government, and exposed the abuses of it, 
more than had been done in the First Part, it consequently 
excited an alarm among all those, who, insensible of the 
burthen of taxes which the general mass of the people sus- 
tain, are living in luxury and indolence, and hunting after 
Court preferments, sinecure places, and pensions, either for 
themselves, or for their family connections. 

I have shewn in that work, that the taxes may be reduced 
at least six millions, and even then the expences of Govern- 
ment in England would be twenty times greater than they 
are in the country I have already spoken of. That taxes 
may be entirely taken off from the poor, by remitting to 
them in money at the rate of between three and four pounds 
per head per annum, for the education and bringing up of 
the children of the poor families, who are computed at one 
third of the whole nation, and six pounds per annum to all 
poor persons, decayed tradesmen, or others, from the age of 
fifty until sixty, and ten pounds per annum from after sixty. 
And that in consequence of this allowance, to be paid out of 
the surplus taxes, the poor-rates would become unnecessary, 
and that it is better to apply the surplus taxes to these 



40 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

beneficent purposes, than to waste them on idle and profligate 
courtiers, placemen, and pensioners. 

These, gentlemen, are a part of the plans and principles 
contained in the work, which this meeting is now called 
upon, in an indirect manner, to vote an address against, and 
brand with the name of wicked and seditious. But that the 
work may speak for itself, I request leave to close this part 
of my letter with an extract therefrom, in the following 
words : {Quotation the same as that on p. 26.] 

Gentlemen, I have now stated to you such matters as 
appear necessary to me to offer to the consideration of the 
meeting. I have no other interest in what I am doing, nor 
in writing you this letter, than the interest of the heart. I 
consider the proposed address as calculated to give counte- 
nance to placemen, pensioners, enormous taxation, and cor- 
ruption. Many of you will recollect, that whilst I resided 
among you, there was not a man more firm and open in sup- 
porting the principles of liberty than myself, and I still 
pursue, and ever will, the same path. 

I have, Gentlemen, only one request to make, which is — 
that those who have called the meeting will speak out, and 
say, whether in the address they are going to present against 
publications, which the proclamation calls wicked, they 
mean the work entitled Rights of Man, or whether they do 
not? 

I am, Gentlemen, 
With sincere wishes for your happiness, 

Your friend and Servant, 
Thomas Paine. 



VIII. 

TO MR. SECRETARY DUNDAS. 

Calais, Sept. 15, 1792. 

Sir, 

I CONCEIVE it necessary to make you acquainted with the 
following circumstance : — The department of Calais having 
elected me a member of the National Convention of France, 
I set off from London the 13th instant, in company with Mr. 
Frost, of Spring Garden, and Mr. Audibert, one of the 
municipal officers of Calais, who brought me the certificate 
of my being elected. We had not arrived more, I believe, 
than five minutes at the York Hotel, at Dover, when the 
train of circumstances began that I am going to relate. We 
had taken our baggage out of the carriage, and put it into a 
room, into which we went. Mr. Frost, having occasion to 
go out, was stopped in the passage by a gentleman, who told 
him he must return into the room, which he did, and the 
gentleman came in with him, and shut the door. I had re- 
mained in the room ; Mr. Audibert was gone to inquire 
when the packet was to sail. The gentleman then said, that 
he was collector of the customs, and had an information 
against us, and must examine our baggage for prohibited 
articles. He produced his commission as Collector. Mr. 
Frost demanded to see the information, which the Collector 
refused to shew, and continued to refuse, on every demand 
that we made. The Collector then called in several other 
officers, and began first to search our pockets. He took 
from Mr. Audibert, who was then returned into the room, 
every thing he found in his pocket, and laid it on the table. 
He then searched Mr. Frost in the same manner, (who, 
among other things, had the keys of the trunks in his 



42 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

pocket,) and then did the same by me. Mr. Frost wanting 
to go out, mentioned it, and was going towards the door; on 
which the Collector placed himself against the door, and 
said, nobody should depart the room. After the keys had 
been taken from Mr. Frost, (for I had given him the keys of 
my trunks beforehand, for the purpose of his attending the 
baggage to the customs, if it should be necessary,) the Col- 
lector asked us to open the trunks, presenting us the keys 
for that purpose ; this we declined to do, unless he would 
produce his information, which he again refused. The Col- 
lector then opened the trunks himself, and took out every 
paper and letter, sealed or unsealed. On our remonstrating 
with him on the bad policy, as well as the illegality, of Cus- 
tom-House officers seizing papers and letters, which were 
things that did not come under their cognizance, he replied, 
that the Proclamation gave him the authority. 

Among the letters which he took out of my trunk, were 
two sealed letters, given into my charge by the American 
Minister in London [Pinckney], one of which was directed 
to the American Minister at Paris [Gouverneur Morris], the 
other to a private gentleman ; a letter from the President 
of the United States, and a letter from the Secretary of 
State in America, both directed to me, and which I had 
received from the American Minister, now in London, and 
were private letters of friendship ; a letter from the electoral 
body of the Department of Calais, containing the notifica- 
tion of my being elected to the National Convention ; and 
a letter from the President of the National Assembly, in- 
forming me of my being also elected for the Department of 
the Oise. 

As we found that all remonstrances with the Collector, 
on the bad policy and illegality of seizing papers and letters, 
and retaining our persons by force, under the pretence of 
searching for prohibited articles, were vain, (for he justified 
himself on the Proclamation, and on the information which 
he refused to shew,) we contented ourselves with assuring 
him, that what he was then doing, he would afterwards have 
to answer for, and left it to himself to do as he pleased. 



I79 2 ] TO SECRETARY DUNDAS. 43 

It appeared to us that the Collector was acting under the 
direction of some other person or persons, then in the hotel, 
but whom he did not choose we should see, or who did not 
choose to be seen by us ; for the Collector went several 
times out of the room for a few minutes, and was also called 
out several times. 

When the Collector had taken what papers and letters he 
pleased out of the trunks, he proceeded to read them. The 
first letter he took up for this purpose was that from the 
President of the United States to me. While he was doing 
this, I said, that it was very extraordinary that General 
Washington could not write a letter of private friendship to 
me, without its being subject to be read by a custom-house 
officer. Upon this Mr. Frost laid his hand over the face of 
the letter, and told the Collector that he should not read it, 
and took it from him. Mr. Frost then, casting his eyes on 
the concluding paragraph of the letter, said, I will read this 
part to you, which he did ; of which the following is an 
exact transcript — 

" And as no one can feel a greater interest in the happiness of 
mankind than I do, it is the first wish of my heart, that the en- 
lightened policy of the present age may diffuse to all men those 
blessings to which they are entitled, and lay the foundation of 
happiness for future generations." ' 

As all the other letters and papers lay then on the table, 
the Collector took them up, and was going out of the room 
with them. During the transactions already stated, I con- 
tented myself with observing what passed, and spoke but 
little ; but on seeing the Collector going out of the room 
with the letters, I told him that the papers and letters then 
in his hand were either belonging to me, or entrusted to 
my charge, and that as I could not permit them to be out of 
my sight, I must insist on going with him. 

The Collector then made a list of the letters and papers, 
and went out of the room, giving the letters and papers into 

1 Washington's letter is dated 6 May, 1792. See my Life of Paine, foL i.. 
p. 302. — Editor. 



1 



44 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

the charge of one of the officers. He returned in a short 
time, and, after some trifling conversation, chiefly about the 
Proclamation, told us, that he saw the Proclamation was ill- 
founded, and asked if we chose to put the letters and papers 
into the trunks ourselves, which, as we had not taken them 
out, we declined doing, and he did it himself, and returned 
us the keys. 

In stating to you these matters, I make no complaint 
against the personal conduct of the Collector, or of any of the 
officers. Their manner was as civil as such an extraordinary 
piece of business could admit of. 

My chief motive in writing to you on this subject is, that 
you may take measures for preventing the like in future, 
not only as it concerns private individuals, but in order to 
prevent a renewal of those unpleasant consequences that 
have heretofore arisen between nations from circumstances 
equally as insignificant. I mention this only for myself ; but 
as the interruption extended to two other gentlemen, it is 
probable that they, as individuals, will take some more 
effectual mode for redress. 

I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

Thomas Paine. 

P. S. Among the papers seized, was a copy of the Attor- 
ney-General's information against me for publishing the 
Rights of Man, and a printed proof copy of my Letter to the 
Addressers, which will soon be published. 



IX. 

LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ADDRESSERS ON 
THE LATE PROCLAMATION. 1 

COULD I have commanded circumstances with a wish, I 
know not of any that would have more generally promoted 
the progress of knowledge, than the late Proclamation, and 
the numerous rotten Borough and Corporation Addresses 
thereon. They have not only served as advertisements, but 
they have excited a spirit of enquiry into principles of gov- 
ernment, and a desire to read the Rights of Man, in places 
where that spirit and that work were before unknown. 

The people of England, wearied and stunned with parties, 
and alternately deceived by each, had almost resigned the 
prerogative of thinking. Even curiosity had expired, and 
a universal languor had spread itself over the land. The 
opposition was visibly no other than a contest for power, 
whilst the mass of the nation stood torpidly by as the 
prize. 

In this hopeless state of things, the First Part of the 
Rights of Man made its appearance. It had to combat with 
a strange mixture of prejudice and indifference ; it stood 
exposed to every species of newspaper abuse ; and besides 
this, it had to remove the obstructions which Mr. Burke's 
rude and outrageous attack on the French Revolution had 
artfully raised. 

But how easy does even the most illiterate reader dis- 

1 The Royal Proclamation issued against seditious writings, May 2ist. This 
pamphlet, the proof of which was read in Paris (bee V. S. of preceding chapter), 
was published at is, bd. by H. D. Symomls, Paternoster Row, and Thomas 
Clio Rickman, 7 Upper Marylebone Street (where it was written), both pub- 
lishers being soon after prosecuted. — Editor. 



46 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

tinguish the spontaneous sensations of the heart, from the 
laboured productions of the brain. Truth, whenever it can 
fully appear, is a thing so naturally familiar to the mind, 
that an acquaintance commences at first sight. No artificial 
light, yet discovered, can display all the properties of day- 
light ; so neither can the best invented fiction fill the mind 
with every conviction which truth begets. 

To overthrow Mr. Burke's fallacious book was scarcely 
the operation of a day. Even the phalanx of Placemen and 
Pensioners, who had given the tone to the multitude, by 
clamouring forth his political fame, became suddenly silent ; 
and the final event to himself has been, that as he rose like 
a rocket, he fell like the stick. 

It seldom happens, that the mind rests satisfied with the 
simple detection of error or imposition. Once put in mo- 
tion, that motion soon becomes accelerated ; where it had 
intended to stop, it discovers new reasons to proceed, and 
renews and continues the pursuit far beyond the limits it 
first prescribed to itself. Thus it has happened to the peo- 
ple of England. From a detection of Mr. Burke's incoher- 
ent rhapsodies, and distorted facts, they began an enquiry 
into the first principles of Government, whilst himself, like 
an object left far behind, became invisible and forgotten. 

Much as the First Part of Rights of Man impressed at its 
first appearance, the progressive mind soon discovered that 
it did not go far enough. It detected errors ; it exposed 
absurdities ; it shook the fabric of political superstition ; it 
generated new ideas ; but it did not produce a regular sys- 
tem of principles in the room of those which it displaced. 
And, if I may guess at the mind of the Government-party, 
they beheld it as an unexpected gale that would soon blow 
over, and they forbore, like sailors in threatening weather, 
to whistle, lest they should encrease the wind. Every thing, 
on their part, was profound silence. 

When the Second Part of Rights of Man, combining' Prin- 
ciple and Practice ', was preparing to appear, they affected, 
for a while, to act with the same policy as before ; but find- 
ing their silence had no more influence in stifling the prog- 



I79 2 J ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 47 

ress of the work, than it would have in stopping the progress 
of time, they changed their plan, and affected to treat it 
with clamorous contempt. The Speech-making Placemen 
and Pensioners, and Place-expectants, in both Houses of 
Parliament, the Outs as well as the Ins, represented it as a 
silly, insignificant performance ; as a work incapable of pro- 
ducing any effect ; as something which they were sure the 
good sense of the people would either despise or indignantly 
spurn ; but such was the overstrained awkwardness with 
which they harangued and encouraged each other, that in 
the very act of declaring their confidence they betrayed 
their fears. 

As most of the rotten Borough Addressers are obscured 
in holes and corners throughout the country, and to whom 
a newspaper arrives as rarely as an almanac, they most prob- 
ably have not had the opportunity of knowing how far this 
part of the farce (the original prelude to all the Addresses) 
has been acted. For their information, I will suspend a 
while the more serious purpose of my Letter, and entertain 
them with two or three Speeches in the last Session of Par- 
liament, which will serve them for politics till Parliament 
meets again. 

You must know, Gentlemen, that the Second Part of the 
Rights OF Man (the book against which you have been pre- 
senting Addresses, though it is most probable that many of 
you did not know it) was to have come out precisely at the 
time that Parliament last met. It happened not to be pub- 
lished till a few days after. But as it was very well known 
that the book would shortly appear, the parliamentary 
Orators entered into a very cordial coalition to cry the book 
down, and they began their attack by crying up the blessings 
of the Constitution. 

Had it been your fate to have been there, you could not 
but have been moved at the hcart-and-pockct-felt congratu- 
lations that passed between all the parties on this subject of 
blessings ; for the Outs enjoy places and pensions and sine- 
cures as well as the Ins, and arc as devoutly attached to the 
firm of the house. 



48 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

One of the most conspicuous of this motley groupe, is the 
Clerk of the Court of King's Bench, who calls himself Lord 
Stormont. He is also called Justice General of Scotland, 
and Keeper of Scoon, (an opposition man,) and he draws 
from the public for these nominal offices, not less, as I am 
informed, than six thousand pounds a-year, and he is, most 
probably, at the trouble of counting the money, and signing 
a receipt, to shew, perhaps, that he is qualified to be Clerk 
as well as Justice. He spoke as follows.* 

" That we shall all be unanimous in expressing our attachment 
to the constitution of these realms, / am confident. It is a sub- 
ject upon which there can be no divided opinion in this house. I 
do not pretend to be deep read in the knowledge of the Constitu- 
tion, but / take upo?i me to say, that from the extent of my knowl- 
edge [for I have so many thousands a year for nothing] it appears 
to me, that from the period of the Revolution, for it was by no 
means created then, it has been, both in theory and. practice, the 
wisest system that ever was formed. I never was [he means he 
never was till now~\ a dealer in political ca?it. My life has not 
been occupied in that way, but the speculations of late years seem 
to have taken a turn, for which I cannot account. When I came 
into public life, the political pamphlets of the time, however they 
might be charged with the heat and violence of parties, were 
agreed in extolling the radical beauties of the Constitution itself. 
I remember [he means he has forgotten] a most captivating eulo- 
gium on its charms, by Lord Bolingbroke, where he recommends 
his readers to contemplate it in all its aspects, with the assurance 
that it would be found more estimable the more it was seen. I do 
not recollect his precise words, but I wish that men who write upon 
these subjects would take this for their model, instead of the po- 
litical pamphlets, which, I am told, are now in circulation, [such, 
I suppose, as Rights of Man,] pamphlets which I have not read, 
and whose purport I know only by report, [he means, perhaps, by 
the noise they make.] This, however, I am sure, that pamphlets 
tending to unsettle the public reverence for the constitution, will 
have very little influence. They can do very little harm — for 
[by the bye, he is ?w dealer in political cant] the English are a sober- 
thinking people, and are more intelligent, more solid, more steady in 

* See his speech in the Morning Chronicle of Feb. 1. — Author. 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 49 

their opinions, than any people I ever had the fortune to see. [This 
is pretty well laid on, though, for a new beginner.] But if there 
should ever come a time when the propagation of those doctrines 
should agitate the public mind, I am sure for every one of your 
Lordships, that no attack will be made on the constitution, from 
which it is truly said that we derive all our prosperity, without 
raising every one of your Lordships to its support. It will then be 
found that there is no difference among us, but that we are all 
determined to stand or fall together, in defence of the inestimable 
system " — of places and pensions. 

After Stormont, on the opposition side, sat down, up rose 
a?wther noble Lord, on the ministerial side, Grenville. This 
man ought to be as strong in the back as a mule, or the sire 
of a mule, or it would crack with the weight of places and 
offices. He rose, however, without feeling any incumbrance, 
full master of his weight ; and thus said this noble Lord to 
f other noble Lord ! 

" The patriotic and manly manner in which the noble Lord has 
declared his sentiments on the subject of the constitution, de- 
mands my cordial approbation. The noble Viscount has proved, 
that however we may differ on particular measures, amidst all the 
jars and dissonance of parties, we are unanimous in principle. 
There is a perfect and entire consent [between us] in the love and 
maintenance of the constitution as happily subsisting. It must 
uudoubtedly give your Lordships concern, to find that the time is 
come [heigh ho !] when there is propriety in the expressions of 
regard to [o ! o ! o !] the constitution. And that there are 
men [confound — their — po-li-tics] who disseminate doctrines 
hostile to the genuine spirit of our well balanced system, [it is cer- 
tainly well balanced when both sides hold places and pensions at 
once.] I agree with the noble viscount that they have not [I 
hope] much success. I am convinced that there is no danger to be 
apprehended from their attempts : but it is truly important and 
consolatory [to us placemen, I suppose] to know, that if ever there 
should arise a serious alarm, there is but one spirit, one sense, [and 
that sense I presume is not common sense] and one determination 
in this house " — which undoubtedly is to hold all their places and 
pensions as long as they can. 



50 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

Both those speeches (except the parts enclosed in parenthe- 
sis, which are added for the purpose of illustration) are copied 
verbatim from the Morning Chronicle of the 1st of February 
last ; and when the situation of the speakers is considered, 
the one in the opposition, and the other in the ministry, and 
both of them living at the public expence, by sinecure, or 
nominal places and offices, it required a very unblushing 
front to be able to deliver them. Can those men seriously 
suppose any nation to be so completely blind as not to see 
through them? Can Stormont imagine that the political 
cant, with which he has larded his harangue, will conceal the 
craft ? Does he not know that there never was a cover large 
enough to hide itself f Or can Grenville believe that his 
credit with the public encreases with his avarice for places ? 

But, if these orators will accept a service from me, in re- 
turn for the allusions they have made to the Rights of Man, 
I will make a speech for either of them to deliver, on the 
excellence of the constitution, that shall be as much to the 
purpose as what they have spoken, or as Bolingbroke's capti- 
vating eulogium. Here it is. 

" That we shall all be unanimous in expressing our attachment 
to the constitution, I am confident. It is, my Lords, incompre- 
hensibly good : but the great wonder of all is the wisdom ; for it 
is, my lords, the wisest system that ever was formed. 

" With respect to us, noble Lords, though the world does not 
know it, it is very well known to us, that we have more wisdom 
than we know what to do with ; and what is still better, my Lords, 
we have it all in stock. I defy your Lordships to prove, that a 
tittle of it has been used yet ; and if we but go on> my Lords, 
with the frugality we have hitherto done, we shall leave to our 
heirs and successors, when we go out of the world, the whole 
stock of wisdom, untouched, that we brought in ; and there is no 
doubt but they will follow our example. This, my lords, is one 
of the blessed effects of the hereditary system ; for we can never 
be without wisdom so long as we keep it by us, and do not 
use it. 

" But, my Lords, as all this wisdom is hereditary property, for 
the sole benefit of us and our heirs, and it is necessary that the 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 5 I 

people should know where to get a supply for their own use, the 
excellence of our constitution has provided us a King for this very 
purpose, and for no other. But, my Lords, I perceive a defect to 
which the constitution is subject, and which I propose to remedy 
by bringing a bill into Parliament for that purpose. 

"The constitution, my Lords, out of delicacy, I presume, has 
left it as a matter of choice to a King whether he will be wise or 
not. It has not, I mean, my Lords, insisted upon it as a constitu- 
tional point, which, I conceive it ought to have done ; for I pledge 
myself to your Lordships to prove, and that with true patriotic 
boldness, that he has ?io choice in the matter. This bill, my Lords, 
which I shall bring in, will be to declare, that the constitution, ac- 
cording to the true intent and meaning thereof, does not invest 
the King with this choice ; our ancestors were too wise to do 
that ; and, in order to prevent any doubts that might otherwise 
arise, I shall prepare, my Lords, an enacting clause, to fix the 
wisdom of Kings by act of Parliament ; and then, my Lords our 
Constitution will be the wonder of the world ! 

" Wisdom, my lords, is the one thing needful : but that there 
may be no mistake in this matter, and that we may proceed con- 
sistently with the true wisdom of the constitution, I shall propose 
a certain criterion whereby the exact quantity of wisdom necessary 
for a King may be known. [Here should be a cry of, Hear him ! 
Hear him !] 

" It is recorded, my Lords, in the Statutes at Large of the 
Jews, ' a book, my Lords, which I have not read, and whose pur- 
port I know only by report,' but perhaps the bench of Bishops can 
recollect something about it, that Saul gave the most convincing 
proofs of royal wisdom before he was made a King, for he ivas 
sent to seek his father s asses and he could not find them. 

" Here, my Lords, we have, most happily for us, a case in point: 
This precedent ought to be established by act of Parliament ; and 
every King, before he be crowned, should be sent to seek his 
father's asses, and if he cannot find them, lie shall be declared 
wise enough to be King, according to the true meaning of our 
excellent constitution. All, therefore, my Lords, that will be 
necessary to be done, by the enacting clause that I shall bring in, 
will be to invest the King beforehand with the quantity of wisdom 
necessary for this purpose, lest he should happen not to possess it ; 
and this, my Lords, we can do without making use of any of our 
own. 



52 THu. WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

" We further read, my Lords, in the said Statutes at Large of 
the Jews, that Samuel, who certainly was as mad as any Man-of- 
Rights-Man now-a-days (hear him ! hear him !), was highly dis- 
pleased, and even exasperated, at the proposal of the Jews to have 
a King, and he warned them against it with all that assurance and 
impudence of which he was master. I have been, my Lords, at 
the trouble of going all the way to Paternoster-row, to procure an 
extract from the printed copy. I was told that I should meet 
with it there, or in Amen-corner, for I was then going, my Lords, 
to rummage for it among the curiosities of the Antiquarian So- 
ciety. I will read the extracts to your Lordships, to shew how 
little Samuel knew of the matter. 

" The extract, my Lords, is from 1 Sam. chap. viii. : 

" * And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people 
that asked of h ; m a King. 

" ( And he said, this will be the manner of the King that shall 
reign over you : he will take your sons, and appoint them for him- 
self, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen ; and some shall run 
before his chariots. 

" * And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and cap- 
tains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap 
his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments 
of his chariots. 

" ' And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and 
to be cooks, and to be bakers. 

" * And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your 
olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 

" ' And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vine- 
yards, and give to his officers and to his servants. 

" * And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, 
and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to 
his work. 

" ■ And he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his 
servants. 

" ' And ye shall cry out in that day, because of your King, 
which ye shall have chosen you ; and the Lord will not hear you 
in that day. ' 

" Now, my Lords, what can we think of this man Samuel ? Is 
there a word of truth, or any thing like truth, in all that he has 
said ? He pretended to be a prophet, or a wise man, but has not 



I79 2 l ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 53 

the event proved him to be a fool, or an incendiary ? Look 
around, my Lords, and see if any thing has happened that he pre- 
tended to foretell ! Has not the most profound peace reigned 
throughout the world ever since Kings were in fashion ? Are not, 
for example, the present Kings of Europe the most peaceable of 
mankind, and the Empress of Russia the very milk of human 
kindness ? It would not be worth having Kings, my Lords, if it 
were not that they never go to war. 

" If we look at home, my Lords, do we not see the same things 
here as are seen every where else ? Are our young men taken to 
be horsemen, or foot soldiers, any more than in Germany or in 
Prussia, or in Hanover or in Hesse ? Are not our sailors as safe 
at land as at sea ? Are they ever dragged from their homes, like 
oxen to the slaughter-house, to serve on board ships of war ? 
When they return from the perils of a long voyage with the mer- 
chandize of distant countries, does not every man sit down under 
his own vine and his own fig-tree, in perfect security ? Is the 
tenth of our seed taken by tax-gatherers, oris any part of it given 
to the King's servants ? In short, is not everything as free from 
taxes as the light from Heaven ! ' 

" Ah ! my Lords, do we not see the blessed effect of having 
Kings in every thing we look at ? Is not the G. R., or the broad 
R., stampt upon every thing ? Even the shoes, the gloves, and 
the hats that we wear, are enriched with the impression, and all 
our candles blaze a burnt-offering. 

" Besides these blessings, my Lords, that cover us from the sole 
of the foot to the crown of the head, do we not see a race of 
youths growing up to be Kings, who are the very paragons of 
virtue ? There is not one of them, my Lords, but might be trusted 
with untold gold, as safely as the other. Are they not ' more sober, 
intelligent, more solid, more steady,' and withal, more learned, more 
wise, more every thing, than any youths iuc ' nrr had the fortune 
to see' Ah ! my Lords, they are a hopeful family. 

" The blessed prospect of succession, which the nation has at 
this moment before its eyes, is a most undeniable proof of the 
excellence of our constitution, and of the blessed hereditary 
system ; for nothing, my Lords, but a constitution founded on the 
truest and purest wisdom could admit such heaven-born and 
heaven-taught characters into the government. — Permit me now. 

1 Allusion to the window-tax. — Editor. 



54 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

my Lords, to recal your attention to the libellous chapter I have 
just read about Kings. I mention this, my Lords, because it is 
my intention to move for a bill to be brought into parliament to 
expunge that chapter from the Bible, and that the Lord Chancel- 
lor, with the assistance of the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, 
and the Duke of Clarence, be requested to write a chapter in the 
room of it ; and that Mr. Burke do see that it be truly canonical, 
and faithfully inserted." — Finis. 

If the Clerk of the Court of King's Bench should chuse to 
be the orator of this luminous encomium on the constitu- 
tion, I hope he will get it well by heart before he attempts 
to deliver it, and not have to apologize to Parliament, as he 
did in the case of Bolingbroke's encomium, for forgetting his 
lesson ; and, with this admonition I leave him. 

Having thus informed the Addressers of what passed at 
the meeting of Parliament, I return to take up the subject 
at the part where I broke off in order to introduce the 
preceding speeches. 

I was then stating, that the first policy of the Government 
party was silence, and the next, clamorous contempt ; but 
as people generally choose to read and judge for themselves, 
the work still went on, and the affectation of contempt, like 
the silence that preceded it, passed for nothing. 

Thus foiled in their second scheme, their evil genius, like 
a will-with-a-wisp, led them to a third ; when all at once, as 
if it had been unfolded to them by a fortune-teller, or Mr. 
Dundas had discovered it by second sight, this once harm- 
less, insignificant book, without undergoing the alteration of 
a single letter, became a most wicked and dangerous Libel. 
The whole Cabinet, like a ship's crew, became alarmed ; all 
hands were piped upon deck, as if a conspiracy of elements 
was forming around them, and out came the Proclamation 
and the Prosecution ; and Addresses supplied the place of 
prayers. 

Ye silly swains, thought I to myself, why do you torment 
yourselves thus ? The RIGHTS OF Man is a book calmly and 
rationally written ; why then are you so disturbed ? Did 
you see how little or how suspicious such conduct makes 



I79 2 J ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 5 5 

you appear, even cunning alone, had you no other faculty, 
would hush you into prudence. The plans, principles, and 
arguments, contained in that work, arc placed before the eyes 
of the nation, and of the world, in a fair, open, and manly 
manner, and nothing more is necessary than to refute them. 
Do this, and the whole is done ; but if ye cannot, so neither 
can ye suppress the reading, nor convict the author; for 
the Law, in the opinion of all good men, would convict itself, 
that should condemn what cannot be refuted. 

Having now shown the Addressers the several stages of 
the business, prior to their being called upon, like Caesar in 
the Tyber, crying to Cassius, " help, Cassius, or I sink ! " I 
next come to remark on the policy of the Government, in 
promoting Addresses ; on the consequences naturally result- 
ing therefrom ; and on the conduct of the persons concerned. 

With respect to the policy, it evidently carries with it 
every mark and feature of disguised fear. And it will here- 
after be placed in the history of extraordinary things, that a 
pamphlet should be produced by an individual, unconnected 
with any sect or party, and not seeking to make any, and 
almost a stranger in the land, that should compleatly frighten 
a whole Government, and that in the midst of its most tri- 
umphant security. Such a circumstance cannot fail to prove, 
that either the pamphlet has irresistible powers, or the Gov- 
ernment very extraordinary defects, or both. The nation 
exhibits no signs of fear at the Rights of Man ; why then 
should the Government, unless the interest of the two are 
really opposite to each other, and the secret is beginning to 
be known ? That there are two distinct classes of men in 
the nation, those who pay taxes, and those who receive and 
live upon the taxes, is evident at first sight ; and when tax- 
ation is carried to excess, it cannot fail to disunite those two, 
and something of this kind is now beginning to appear. 

It is also curious to observe, amidst all the fume and bustle 
about Proclamations and Addresses, kept up by a few noisy 
and interested men, how little the mass of the nation seem 
to care about either. They appear to me, by the indiffer- 
ence they shew, not to believe a word the Proclamation 



5 6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

contains ; and as to the Addresses, they travel to London 
with the silence of a funeral, and having announced their 
arrival in the Gazette, are deposited with the ashes of their 
predecessors, and Mr. Dundas writes their hicjacet. 

One of the best effects which the Proclamation, and its 
echo the Addresses have had, has been that of exciting and 
spreading curiosity ; and it requires only a single reflection 
to discover, that the object of all curiosity is knowledge. 
When the mass of the nation saw that Placemen, Pensioners, 
and Borough-mongers, were the persons that stood forward 
to promote Addresses, it could not fail to create suspicions 
that the public good was not their object ; that the charac- 
ter of the books, or writings, to which such persons obscurely 
alluded, not daring to mention them, was directly contrary 
to what they described them to be, and that it was necessary 
that every man, for his own satisfaction, should exercise his 
proper right, and read and judge for himself. 

But how will the persons who have been induced to read 
the Rights of Man y by the clamour that has been raised 
against it, be surprized to find, that, instead of a wicked, in- 
flammatory work, instead of a licencious and profligate per- 
formance, it abounds with principles of government that are 
uncontrovertible — with arguments which every reader will 
feel, are unanswerable — with plans for the increase of com- 
merce and manufactures — for the extinction of war — for the 
education of the children of the poor — for the comfortable 
support of the aged and decayed persons of both sexes — for 
the relief of the army and navy, and, in short, for the promo- 
tion of every thing that can benefit the moral, civil, and 
political condition of Man. 

Why, then, some calm observer will ask, why is the work 
prosecuted, if these be the goodly matters it contains ? I 
will tell thee, friend ; it contains also a plan for the reduction 
of Taxes, for lessening the immense expences of Government, 
for abolishing sinecure Places and Pensions ; and it proposes 
applying the redundant taxes, that shall be saved by these 
reforms, to the purposes mentioned in the former paragraph, 
instead of applying them to the support of idle and profligate 
Placemen and Pensioners. 



I79-] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 57 

Is it, then, any wonder that Placemen and Pensioners, and 
the whole train of Court expectants, should become the pro- 
moters of Addresses, Proclamations, and Prosecutions ? or, 
is it any wonder that Corporations and rotten Boroughs, 
which are attacked and exposed, both in the First and Sec- 
ond Parts of Rights of Man, as unjust monopolies and pub- 
lic nuisances, should join in the cavalcade? Yet these are 
the sources from which Addresses have sprung. Had not 
such persons come forward to oppose the Rights of Man, I 
should have doubted the efficacy of my own writings : but 
those opposers have now proved to me that the blow was 
well directed, and they have done it justice by confessing 
the smart. 

The principal deception in this business of Addresses has 
been, that the promoters of them have not come forward in 
their proper characters. They have assumed to pass them- 
selves upon the public as a part of the Public, bearing a share 
of the burthen of Taxes, and acting for the public good ; 
whereas, they are in general that part of it that adds to the 
public burthen, by living on the produce of the public taxes. 
They are to the public what the locusts are to the tree : 
the burthen would be less, and the prosperity would be 
greater, if they were shaken off. 

u I do not come here," said OxSLOW, at the Surry County 
meeting, " as the Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of 
the county, but I come here as a plain country gentleman." 
The fact is, that he came there as what he was, and as no 
other, and consequently he came as one of the beings I have 
been describing. If it be the character of a gentleman to be 
fed by the public, as a pauper is by the parish, Onslow has a 
fair claim to the title ; and the same description will suit 
the Duke of Richmond, who led the Address at the Sussex 
meeting. He also may set up for a gentleman. 

As to the meeting in the next adjoining county (Kent), 
it was a scene of disgrace. About two hundred persons 
met, when a small part of them drew privately away from 
the rest, and voted an Address : the consequence of which 
was that they got together by the ears, and produced a riot 
in the very act of producing an Address to prevent Riots. 



58 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 



That the Proclamation and the Addresses have failed of 
their intended effect, may be collected from the silence which 
the Government party itself observes. The number of ad- 
dresses has been weekly retailed in the Gazette ; but the 
number of Addressers has been concealed. Several of the 
Addresses have been voted by not more than ten or twelve 
persons ; and a considerable number of them by not more 
than thirty. The whole number of Addresses presented at 
the time of writing this letter is three hundred and twenty, 
(rotten Boroughs and Corporations included) and even ad- 
mitting, on an average, one hundred Addressers to each 
address, the whole number of addressers would be but thirty- 
two thousand, and nearly three months have been taken up 
in procuring this number. That the success of the Procla- 
mation has been less than the success of the work it was in- 
tended to discourage, is a matter within my own knowledge ; 
for a greater number of the cheap edition of the First and 
Second Parts of the Rights OF Man has been sold in the 
space only of one month, than the whole number of Ad- 
dressers (admitting them to be thirty-two thousand) have 
amounted to in three months. 

It is a dangerous attempt in any government to say to a 
Nation, " thou shalt not read." This is now done in Spain, 
and was formerly done under the old Government of France ; 
but it served to procure the downfall of the latter, and is 
subverting that of the former ; and it will have the same 
tendency in all countries ; because thought by some means 
or other, is got abroad in the world, and cannot be restrained, 
though reading may. 

If Rights of Man were a book that deserved the vile de- 
scription which the promoters of the Address have given of 
it, why did not these men prove their charge, and satisfy the 
people, by producing it, and reading it publicly ? This most 
certainly ought to have been done, and would also have 
been done, had they believed it would have answered their 
purpose. But the fact is, that the book contains truths 
which those time-servers dreaded to hear, and dreaded that 
the people should know ; and it is now following up the 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 59 

Addresses in every part of the nation, and convicting them 
of falsehoods. 

Among the unwarrantable proceedings to which the Proc- 
lamation has given rise, the meetings of the Justices in 
several of the towns and counties ought to be noticed. 
Those men have assumed to re-act the farce of General 
Warrants, and to suppress, by their own authority, whatever 
publications they please. This is an attempt at power 
equalled only by the conduct of the minor despots of the 
most despotic governments in Europe, and yet those Jus- 
tices affect to call England a Free Country. But even this, 
perhaps, like the scheme for garrisoning the country by 
building military barracks, is necessary to awaken the coun- 
try to a sense of its Rights, and, as such, it will have a good 
effect. 

Another part of the conduct of such Justices has been, 
that of threatening to take away the licences from tav- 
erns and public-houses, where the inhabitants of the neigh- 
bourhood associated to read and discuss the principles 
of Government, and to inform each other thereon. This, 
again, is similar to what is doing in Spain and Russia; 
and the reflection which it cannot fail to suggest is, that the 
principles and conduct of any Government must be bad, 
when that Government dreads and startles at discussion, and 
seeks security by a prevention of knowledge. 

If the Government, or the Constitution, or by whatever 
name it be called, be that miracle of perfection which the 
Proclamation and the Addresses have trumpeted it forth to 
be, it ought to have defied discussion and investigation, in- 
stead of dreading it. Whereas, every attempt it makes, 
either by Proclamation, Prosecution, or Address, to suppress 
investigation, is a confession that it feels itself unable to 
bear it. It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from 
enquiry. All the numerous pamphlets, and all the newspa- 
per falsehood and abuse, that have been published against 
the RIGHTS OF Man, have fallen before it like pointless 
arrows ; and, in like manner, would any work have fallen 
before the Constitution, had the Constitution, as it is called, 



60 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

been founded on as good political principles as those on 
which the RIGHTS OF Man is written. 

It is a good Constitution for courtiers, placemen, pen- 
sioners, borough-holders, and the leaders of Parties, and 
these are the men that have been the active leaders of Ad- 
dresses ; but it is a bad Constitution for at least ninety-nine 
parts of the nation out of an hundred, and this truth is 
every day making its way. 

It is bad, first, because it entails upon the nation the un- 
necessary expence of supporting three forms and systems of 
Government at once, namely, the monarchical, the aristo- 
cratical, and the democratical. 

Secondly, because it is impossible to unite such a discor- 
dant composition by any other means than perpetual cor- 
ruption ; and therefore the corruption so loudly and so 
universally complained of, is no other than the natural con- 
sequence of such an unnatural compound of Governments ; 
and in this consists that excellence which the numerous herd 
of placemen and pensioners so loudly extol, and which at 
the same time, occasions that enormous load of taxes under 
which the rest of the nation groans. 

Among the mass of national delusions calculated to amuse 
and impose upon the multitude, the standing one has been 
that of flattering them into taxes, by calling the Government 
(or as they please to express it, the English Constitution) 
" the envy and the admiration of the world." Scarcely an 
Address has been voted in which some of the speakers have 
not uttered this hackneyed nonsensical falsehood. 

Two Revolutions have taken place, those of America and 
France ; and both of them have rejected the unnatural com- 
pounded system of the English government. America has 
declared against all hereditary Government, and established 
the representative system of Government only. France has 
entirely rejected the aristocratical part, and is now discover- 
ing the absurdity of the monarchical, and is approaching 
fast to the representative system. On what ground then, 
do these men continue a declaration, respecting what they 
call the envy and admiration of other nations, which the vol- 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 6 1 

untary practice of such nations, as have had the opportunity 
of establishing Government, contradicts and falsifies. Will 
such men never confine themselves to truth? Will they be 
for ever the deceivers of the people ? 

But I will go further, and shew, that were Government 
now to begin in England, the people could not be brought 
to establish the same system they now submit to. 

In speaking on this subject (or on any other) on the pure 
ground of principle, antiquity and precedent cease to be 
authority, and hoary-headed error loses its effect. The 
reasonableness and propriety of things must be examined 
abstractedly from custom and usage ; and, in this point of 
view, the right which grows into practice to-day is as much 
a right, and as old in principle and theory, as if it had the 
customary sanction of a thousand ages. Principles have no 
connection with time, nor characters with names. 

To say that the Government of this country is composed 
of King, Lords, and Commons, is the mere phraseology of 
custom. It is composed of men ; and whoever the men be 
to whom the Government of any country is intrusted, they 
ought to be the best and wisest that can be found, and if 
they are not so, they are not fit for the station. A man 
derives no more excellence from the change of a name, or 
calling him King, or calling him Lord, than I should do by 
changing my name from Thomas to George, or from Paine 
to Guelph. I should not be a whit more able to write a 
book because my name was altered ; neither would any man, 
now called a King or a lord, have a whit the more sense 
than he now has, were he to call himself Thomas Paine. 

As to the word " Commons," applied as it is in England, 
it is a term of degradation and reproach, and ought to be 
abolished. It is a term unknown in free countries. 

But to the point. — Let us suppose that Government was 
now to begin in England, and that the plan of Government, 
offered to the nation for its approbation or rejection, con- 
sisted of the following parts : 

First — That some one individual should be taken from all 
the rest of the nation, and to whom all the rest should swear 



62 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

obedience, and never be permitted to sit down in his pres- 
ence, and that they should give to him one million sterling 
a year. — That the nation should never after have power or 
authority to make laws but with his express consent ; and 
that his sons and his sons' sons, whether wise or foolish, 
good men or bad, fit or unfit, should have the same power, 
and also the same money annually paid to them for ever. 

Secondly — That there should be two houses of Legislators 
to assist in making laws, one of which should, in the first 
instance, be entirely appointed by the aforesaid person, and 
that their sons and their sons' sons, whether wise or foolish, 
good men or bad, fit or unfit, should for ever after be heredi- 
tary Legislators. 

Thirdly — That the other house should be chosen in the 
same manner as the house now called the House of Com- 
mons is chosen, and should be subject to the controul of the 
two aforesaid hereditary Powers in all things. 

It would be impossible to cram such a farrago of imposi- 
tion and absurdity down the throat of this or any other 
nation that was capable of reasoning upon its rights and its 
interest. 

They would ask, in the first place, on what ground of 
right, or on what principle, such irrational and preposterous 
distinctions could, or ought to be made ; and what preten- 
sions any man could have, or what services he could render, 
to entitle him to a million a-year ? They would go farther, 
and revolt at the idea of consigning their children, and their 
children's children, to the domination of persons hereafter 
to be born, who might, for any thing they could foresee, turn 
out to be knaves or fools ; and they would finally discover, 
that the project of hereditary Governors and Legislators 
was a treasonable usurpation over the rights of posterity. Not 
only the calm dictates of reason, and the force of natural 
affection, but the integrity of manly pride, would impel men 
to spurn such proposals. 

From the grosser absurdities of such a scheme, they would 
extend their examination to the practical defects — They 
would soon see that it would end in tyranny accomplished 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 63 

by fraud. That in the operation of it, it would be two to 
one against them, because the two parts that were to be 
made hereditary would form a common interest, and stick 
to each other ; and that themselves and representatives 
would become no better than hewers of wood and drawers 
of water for the other parts of the Government. — Yet call 
one of those powers King, the other Lords, and the third the 
Commons, and it gives the model of what is called the 
English Government. 

I have asserted, and have shewn, both in the First and 
Second Parts of Rights of Man, that there is not such a 
thing as an English Constitution, and that the people have 
yet a Constitution to form. A Constitution is a thing ante- 
cedent to a Government ; it is the act of a people creating a Gov- 
ernment a?id giving it pozvers, and defining the limits and 
exercise of the powers so given. But whenever did the people 
of England, acting in their original constituent character, 
by a delegation elected for that express purpose, declare and 
say, " We, the people of this land, do constitute and appoint 
this to be our system and form of Government." The Gov- 
ernment has assumed to constitute itself, but it never was 
constituted by the people, in whom alone the right of con- 
stituting resides. 

I will here recite the preamble to the Federal Constitu- 
tion of the United States of America. I have shewn in the 
Second Part of Rights of Man, the manner by which the 
Constitution was formed and afterwards ratified ; and to 
which I refer the reader. The preamble is in the following 
words : 

" We, the people, of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice,insure domestic tranquillity, provide 
for common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the 
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and 
establish this constitution for the United States of America." 

Then follow the several articles which appoint the manner 
in which the several component parts of the Government, leg- 
islative and executive, shall be elected, and the period of their 



64 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

duration, and the powers they shall have : also, the manner 
by which future additions, alterations, or amendments, shall 
be made to the constitution. Consequently, every improve- 
ment that can be made in the science of government, follows 
in that country as a matter of order. It is only in Govern- 
ments founded on assumption and false principles, that 
reasoning upon, and investigating systems and principles of 
Government, and shewing their several excellencies and 
defects, are termed libellous and seditious. These terms were 
made part of the charge brought against Locke, Hampden, 
and Sydney, and will continue to be brought against all 
good men, so long as bad government shall continue. 

The Government of this country has been ostentatiously 
giving challenges for more than an hundred years past, upon 
what it called its own excellence and perfection. Scarcely 
a King's Speech, or a Parliamentary Speech, has been uttered, 
in which this glove has not been thrown, till the world has 
been insulted with their challenges. But it now appears 
that all this was vapour and vain boasting, or that it was in- 
tended to conceal abuses and defects, and hush the people 
into taxes. I have taken the challenge up, and in behalf of 
the public have shewn, in a fair, open, and candid manner, 
both the radical and practical defects of the system ; when, 
lo ! those champions of the Civil List have fled away, and 
sent the Attorney-General to deny the challenge, by turning 
the acceptance of it into an attack, and defending their 
Places and Pensions by a prosecution. 

I will here drop this part of the subject, and state a few 
particulars respecting the prosecution now pending, by 
which the Addressers will see that they have been used 
as tools to the prosecuting party and their dependents. 
The case is as follows : 

The original edition of the First and Second Parts of the 
RIGHTS OF Man, having been expensively printed, (in the 
modern stile of printing pamphlets, that they might be 
bound up with Mr. Burke's Reflections on the French Revo- 
lution,) the high price ' precluded the generality of people 

1 Half a crown. — Editor. 



I79 2 l ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 65 

from purchasing; and many applications were made to me 
from various parts of the country to print the work in a 
cheaper manner. The people of Sheffield requested leave 
to print two thousand copies for themselves, with which re- 
quest I immediately complied. The same request came to 
me from Rotherham, from Leicester, from Chester, from 
several towns in Scotland ; and Mr. James Mackintosh, 
author of Vindicue Galliav, brought me a request from War- 
wickshire, for leave to print ten thousand copies in that 
county. I had already sent a cheap edition to Scotland ; 
and finding the applications increase, I concluded that the 
best method of complying therewith, would be to print a 
very numerous edition in London, under my own direction, 
by which means the work would be more perfect, and the 
price be reduced lower than it could be by printing small 
editions in the country, of only a few thousands each. 

The cheap edition of the first part was begun about the 
first of last April, and from that moment, and not before, I 
expected a prosecution, and the event has proved that I 
was not mistaken. I had then occasion to write to Mr. 
Thomas Walker of Manchester, and after informing him of 
my intention of giving up the work for the purpose of gen- 
eral information, I informed him of what I apprehended 
would be the consequence ; that while the work was at a 
price that precluded an extensive circulation, the govern- 
ment party, not able to controvert the plans, arguments, 
and principles it contained, had chosen to remain silent; 
but that I expected they would make an attempt to deprive 
the mass of the nation, and especially the poor, of the right 
of reading, by the pretence of prosecuting either the Author 
or the Publisher, or both. They chose to begin with the 
Publisher. 

Nearly a month, however, passed, before I had any in- 
formation given me of their intentions. I was then at 
Bromley, in Kent, upon which I came immediately to town, 
(May 14) and went to Mr. Jordan, the publisher <^f the 
original edition. He had that evening been served with a 
summons to appear at the Court of King's Bench, on the 



66 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

Monday following, but for what purpose was not stated. 
Supposing it to be on account of the work, I appointed a 
meeting with him on the next morning, which was accord- 
ingly had, when I provided an attorney, and took the ex- 
pence of the defence on myself. But finding afterwards 
that he absented himself from the attorney employed, and 
had engaged another, and that he had been closeted with 
the Solicitors of the Treasury, I left him to follow his own 
choice, and he chose to plead Guilty. This he might do if 
he pleased ; and I make no objection against him for it. 
I believe that his idea by the word Guilty, was no other 
than declaring himself to be the publisher, without any re- 
gard to the merits or demerits of the work ; for were it to 
be construed otherwise, it would amount to the absurdity of 
converting a publisher into a Jury, and his confession into a 
verdict upon the work itself. This would be the highest 
possible refinement upon packing of Juries. 

On the 2 1st of May, they commenced their prosecution 
against me, as the author, by leaving a summons at my 
lodgings in town, to appear at the Court of King's Bench on 
the 8th of June following; and on the same day, (May 21,) 
they issued also their Proclamation. Thus the Court of St. 
James and the Court of King's Bench, were playing into 
each other's hands at the same instant of time, and the farce 
of Addresses brought up the rear ; and this mode of pro- 
ceeding is called by the prostituted name of Law. Such a 
thundering rapidity, after a ministerial dormancy of almost 
eighteen months, can be attributed to no other cause than 
their having gained information of the forwardness of the 
cheap Edition, and the dread they felt at the progressive 
increase of political knowledge. 

I was strongly advised by several gentlemen, as well those 
in the practice of the law, as others, to prefer a bill of in- 
dictment against the publisher of the Proclamation, as a 
publication tending to influence, or rather to dictate the 
verdict of a Jury on the issue of a matter then pending; 
but it appeared to me much better to avail myself of the 
opportunity which such a precedent justified me in using, 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 67 

by meeting the Proclamation and the Addressers on their 
own ground, and publicly defending the Work which had 
been thus unwarrantably attacked and traduced. — And con- 
scious as I now am, that the Work entitled Rights OF Man 
so far from being, as has been maliciously or erroneously 
represented, a false, wicked, and seditious libel, is a work 
abounding with unanswerable truths, with principles of the 
purest morality and benevolence, and with arguments not 
to be controverted — Conscious, I say, of these things, and 
having no object in view but the happiness of mankind, I 
have now put the matter to the best proof in my power, by 
giving to the public a cheap edition of the First and Second 
Parts of that Work. Let every man read and judge for 
himself, not only of the merits and demerits of the Work, 
but of the matters therein contained, which relate to his 
own interest and happiness. 

If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy, and 
every species of hereditary government — to lessen the op- 
pression of taxes — to propose plans for the education of 
helpless infancy, and the comfortable support of the aged 
and distressed — to endeavour to conciliate nations to each 
other — to extirpate the horrid practice of war — to promote 
universal peace, civilization, and commerce — and to break 
the chains of political superstition, and raise degraded man 
to his proper rank; — if these things be libellous, let me live 
the life of a Libeller, and let the name of LIBELLER be en- 
graved on my tomb. 

Of all the weak and ill-judged measures which fear, igno- 
rance, or arrogance could suggest, the Proclamation, and the 
project for Addresses, are two of the worst. They served 
to advertise the work which the promoters of those meas- 
ures wished to keep unknown ; and in doing this they 
offered violence to the judgment of the people, by calling 
on them to condemn what they forbad them to know, and 
put the strength of their party to that hazardous issue that 
prudence would have avoided. — The County Meeting for 
Middlesex was attended by only one hundred and eighteen 
Addressers. They, no doubt, expected, that thousands 



68 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

would flock to their standard, and clamor against the Rights 
of Man. But the case most probably is, that men in all 
countries, are not so blind to their Rights and their Interest 
as Governments believe. 

Having thus shewn the extraordinary manner in which 
the Government party commenced their attack, I proceed 
to offer a few observations on the prosecution, and on the 
mode of trial by Special Jury. 

In the first place, I have written a book ; and if it cannot 
be refuted, it cannot be condemned. But I do not consider 
the prosecution as particularly levelled against me, but 
against the general right, or the right of every man, of in- 
vestigating systems and principles of government, and shew- 
ing their several excellencies or defects. If the press be free 
only to flatter Government, as Mr. Burke has done, and to 
cry up and extol what certain Court sycophants are pleased 
to call a " glorious Constitution," and not free to examine 
into its errors or abuses, or whether a Constitution really 
exist or not, such freedom is no other than that of Spain, 
Turkey, or Russia ; and a Jury in this case, would not be a 
Jury to try, but an Inquisition to condemn. 

I have asserted, and by fair and open argument main- 
tained, the right of every nation at all times to establish 
such a system and form of government for itself as best 
accords with its disposition, interest, and happiness ; and to 
change and alter it as it sees occasion. Will any Jury deny 
to the Nation this right ? If they do, they are traitors, and 
their verdict would be null and void. And if they admit 
the right, the means must be admitted also ; for it would 
be the highest absurdity to say, that the right existed, but 
the means did not. The question then is, What are the 
means by which the possession and exercise of this National 
Right are to be secured? The answer will be, that of 
maintaining, inviolably, the right of free investigation ; for 
investigation always serves to detect error, and to bring 
forth truth. 

I have, as an individual, given my opinion upon what I 
believe to be not only the best, but the true system of 






1 7 9 2 J ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 69 

Government, which is the representative system, and I have 
given reasons for that opinion. 

First, Because in the representative system, no office of 
very extraordinary power, or extravagant pay, is attached 
to any individual ; and consequently there is nothing to 
excite those national contentions and civil wars with which 
countries under monarchical governments are frequently 
convulsed, and of which the History of England exhibits 
such numerous instances. 

Secondly, Because the representative is a system of 
Government always in maturity ; whereas monarchical 
government fluctuates through all the stages, from non-age 
to dotage. 

Thirdly, Because the representative system admits of 
none but men properly qualified into the Government, or 
removes them if they prove to be otherwise. Whereas, in 
the hereditary system, a nation may be encumbered with a 
knave or an ideot for a whole life-time, and not be benefited 
by a successor. 

Fourthly, Because there does not exist a right to establish 
hereditary government, or, in other words, hereditary suc- 
cessors, because hereditary government always means a 
government yet to come, and the case always is, that those 
who are to live afterwards have the same right to establish 
government for themselves, as the people had who lived 
before them ; and, therefore, all laws attempting to establish 
hereditary government, are founded on assumption and 
political fiction. 

If these positions be truths, and I challenge any man to 
prove the contrary ; if they tend to instruct and enlighten 
mankind, and to free them from error, oppression, and 
political superstition, which are the objects I have in view 
in publishing them, that Jury would commit an act of in- 
justice to their country, and to me, if not an act of perjury, 
that should call them false, wicked^ and malicious. 

Dragonetti, in his treatise u On Virtues and Rewards," 
has a paragraph worthy of being recorded in every country 
in the world — "The science (says he,) of the politician, con- 



70 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

sists, in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. 
Those men deserve the gratitude of ages who should dis- 
cover a mode of government that contained the greatest 
sum of individual happiness with the least national expence." 
But if Juries are to be made use of to prohibit enquiry, to 
suppress truth, and to stop the progress of knowledge, this 
boasted palladium of liberty becomes the most successful 
instrument of tyranny. 

Among the arts practised at the Bar, and from the Bench, 
to impose upon the understanding of a Jury, and to obtain a 
Verdict where the consciences of men could not otherwise 
consent, one of the most successful has been that of calling 
truth a libel, and of insinuating that the words "falsely, 
wickedly, and maliciously" though they are made the formid- 
able and high sounding part of the charge, are not matters 
of consideration with a Jury. For what purpose, then, are 
they retained, unless it be for that of imposition and wilful 
defamation ? 

I cannot conceive a greater violation of order, nor a more 
abominable insult upon morality, and upon human under- 
standing, than to see a man sitting in the judgment seat, 
affecting by an antiquated foppery of dress to impress the 
audience with awe; then causing witnesses and Jury to be 
sworn to truth and justice, himself having officially 
sworn the same ; then causing to be read a prosecution 
against a man charging him with having wickedly and ma- 
liciously written and published a certain false, wicked, and 
seditious book ; and having gone through all this with a shew 
of solemnity, as if he saw the eye of the Almighty darting 
through the roof of the building like a ray of light, turn, in 
an instant, the whole into a farce, and, in order to obtain a 
verdict that could not otherwise be obtained, tell the Jury 
that the charge of falsely, wickedly, and seditiously, meant 
nothing ; that truth was out of the question ; and that 
whether the person accused spoke truth or falsehood, or in- 
tended virtuously or wickedly, was the same thing; and 
finally conclude the wretched inquisitorial scene, by stating 
some antiquated precedent, equally as abominable as that 



179 2 1 ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 7 1 

which is then acting, or giving some opinion of his own, and 
falsely calling the one and the other — Law. It was, most 
probably, to such a Judge as this, that the most solemn of 
all reproofs was given — " The Lord will smite thee, thou 
whitened wall** 

I now proceed to offer some remarks on what is called a 
Special Jury. As to what is called a Special Verdict, I shall 
make no other remark upon it, than that it is in reality not 
a verdict. It is an attempt on the part of the Jury to dele- 
gate, or of the Bench to obtain, the exercise of that right, 
which is committed to the Jury only. 

With respect to the Special Juries, I shall state such mat- 
ters as I have been able to collect, for I do not find any 
uniform opinion concerning the mode of appointing them. 

In the first place, this mode of trial is but of modern in- 
vention, and the origin of it, as I am told, is as follows : 

Formerly, when disputes arose between Merchants, and 
were brought before a Court, the case was that the nature of 
their commerce, and the method of keeping Merchants' 
accounts not being sufficiently understood by persons out of 
their own line, it became necessary to depart from the com- 
mon mode of appointing Juries, and to select such persons 
for a Jury whose practical knowledge would enable them to 
decide upon the case. From this introduction, Special 
Juries became more general ; but some doubts having arisen 
as to their legality, an act was passed in the 3d of George II. 
to establish them as legal, and also to extend them to all 
cases, not only between individuals, but in cases where the 
Government itself should be the prosecutor. This most prob- 
ably gave rise to the suspicion so generally entertained of 
packing a Jury ; because, by this act, when the Crown, as it 
is called, is the Prosecutor, the Master of the Crown-office, 
who holds his office under the Crown, is the person who 
either wholly nominates, or has great power in nominating 
the Jury, and therefore it has greatly the appearance of the 
prosecuting party selecting a Jury. 

The process is as follows : 

On motion being made in Court, by either the Plaintiff 



72 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

or Defendant, for a Special Jury, the Court grants it or 
not, at its own discretion. 

If it be granted, the Solicitor of the party that applied for 
the Special Jury, gives notice to the Solicitor of the ad- 
verse party, and a day and hour are appointed for them to 
meet at the office of the Master of the Crown-office. The 
Master of the Crown-office sends to the Sheriff or his deputy, 
who attends with the Sheriff's book of Freeholders. From 
this book, forty-eight names are taken, and a copy thereof 
given to each of the parties ; and, on a future day, notice is 
again given, and the Solicitors meet a second time, and each 
strikes out twelve names. The list being thus reduced from 
forty-eight to twenty-four, the first twelve that appear in 
Court, and answer to their names, is the Special Jury for 
that cause. The first operation, that of taking the forty- 
eight names, is called nominating the Jury ; and the re- 
ducing them to twenty-four is called striking the Jury. 

Having thus stated the general process, I come to par- 
ticulars, and the first question will be, how are the forty- 
eight names, out of which the Jury is to be struck, obtained 
from the Sheriff's book ? For herein lies the principal 
ground of suspicion, with respect to what is understood by 
packing of Juries. 

Either they must be taken by some rule agreed upon be- 
tween the parties, or by some common rule known and 
established beforehand, or at the discretion of some person, 
who in such a case, ought to be perfectly disinterested in the 
issue, as well officially as otherwise. 

In the case of Merchants, and in all cases between indi- 
viduals, the Master of the office, called the Crown-office, is 
officially an indifferent person, and as such may be a proper 
person to act between the parties, and present them with a 
list of forty-eight names, out of which each party is to strike 
twelve. But the case assumes an entire difference of char- 
acter, when the Government itself is the Prosecutor. The 
Master of the Crown-office is then an officer holding his 
office under the Prosecutor; and it is therefore no wonder 
that the suspicion of packing Juries should, in such cases, 
have been so prevalent. 






I79 2 l ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 73 

This will apply with additional force, when the prosecu- 
tion is commenced against the Author or Publisher of such 
Works as treat of reforms, and of the abolition of super- 
fluous places and offices, &c, because in such cases every 
person holding an office, subject to that suspicion, becomes 
interested as a party ; and the office, called the Crown- 
office, may, upon examination, be found to be of this 
description. 

I have heard it asserted, that the Master of the Crown- 
office is to open the sheriff's book as it were per hazard, and 
take thereout forty-eight following names, to which the 
word Merchant or Esquire is affixed. The former of these 
are certainly proper, when the case is between Merchants, 
and it has reference to the origin of the custom, and to 
nothing else. As to the word Esquire, every man is an 
Esquire who pleases to call himself Esquire ; and the 
sensible part of mankind are leaving it off. But the matter 
for enquiry is, whether there be any existing law to direct 
the mode by which the forty-eight names shall be taken, or 
whether the mode be merely that of custom which the 
office has created ; or whether the selection of the forty- 
eight names be wholly at the discretion and choice of the 
Master of the Crown-office ? One or other of the two latter 
appears to be the case, because the act already mentioned, 
of the 3d of George II. lays down no rule or mode, nor refers 
to any preceding law — but says only, that Special Juries 
shall hereafter be struck, " in such manner as Special Juries 
Jiave been and are ustially struck." 

This act appears to have been what is generally under- 
stood by a " deep take in." It was fitted to the spur of the 
moment in which it was passed, 3d of George II. when par- 
ties ran high, and it served to throw into the hands of Wal- 
pole, who was then Minister, the management of Juries in 
Crown prosecutions, by making the nomination of the forty- 
eight persons, from whom the Jury was to be struck, follow 
the precedent established by custom between individuals, 
and by this means slipt into practice with less suspicion. 
Now, the manner of obtaining Special Juries through the 



74 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 



medium of an officer of the Government, such, for instance, 
as a Master of the Crown-office, may be impartial in the case 
of Merchants or other individuals, but it becomes highly 
improper and suspicious in cases where the Government 
itself is one of the parties. And it must, upon the whole, 
appear a strange inconsistency, that a Government should 
keep one officer to commence prosecutions, and another 
officer to nominate the forty-eight persons from whom the 
Jury is to be struck, both of whom are officers of the Civil 
List, and yet continue to call this by the pompous name of 
the glorious Right of trial by Jury i 

In the case of the King against Jordan, for publishing the 
Rights of Man, the Attorney-General moved for the ap- 
pointment of a Special Jury, and the Master of the Crown- 
office nominated the forty-eight persons himself, and took 
them from such part of the Sheriff's book as he pleased. 

The trial did not come on, occasioned by Jordan with- 
drawing his plea ; but if it had, it might have afforded an 
opportunity of discussing the subject of Special Juries ; for 
though such discussion might have had no effect in the 
Court of King's Bench, it would, in the present disposition 
for enquiry, have had a considerable effect upon the 
Country ; and, in all national reforms, this is the proper 
point to begin at. Put a Country right, and it will soon put 
Government right. Among the improper things acted by 
the Government in the case of Special Juries, on their own 
motion, one has been that of treating the Jury with a dinner, 
and afterwards giving each Juryman two guineas,if a verdict 
be found for the prosecution, and only one if otherwise ; and 
it has been long observed, that, in London and Westminster, 
there are persons who appear to make a trade of serving, 
by being so frequently seen upon Special Juries. 

Thus much for Special Juries. As to what is called a 
Common Jury, upon any Government prosecution against 
the Author or Publisher of Rights of Man, during the 
time of the present Sheriffry, I have one question to offer, 
which is, whether the present Sheriffs of London, having 
publicly prejudged the case, by the part they have taken in pro- 



I79 2 l ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 75 

curing an Address from the county of Middlesex, (however 
diminutive and insignificant tJie number of Addressers were, 

being on ly one hundred and eighteen,) are eligible or proper per- 
sons to be intrusted with the power of returning a Jury to try 
tJie issue of any such prosecution. 

But the whole matter appears, at least to me, to be 
worthy of a more extensive consideration than what relates 
to any Jury, whether Special or Common; for the case is, 
whether any part of a whole nation, locally selected as a 
Jury of twelve men always is, be competent to judge and 
determine for the whole nation, on any matter that relates 
to systems and principles of Government, and whether it be 
not applying the institution of Juries to purposes for which 
such institutions were not intended? For example, 

I have asserted, in the Work Rights OF Man, that as 
every man in the nation pays taxes, so has every man a 
right to a share in government, and consequently that the 
people of Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Hali- 
fax, &c. have the same right as those of London. Shall, 
then, twelve men, picked out between Temple-bar and 
Whitechapel, because the book happened to be first pub- 
lished there, decide upon the rights of the inhabitants of 
those towns, or of any other town or village in the nation ? 

Having thus spoken of Juries, I come next to offer a few 
observations on the matter contained in the information or 
prosecution. 

The work, RIGHTS OF MAN, consists of Part the First, 
and Part the Second. The First Part the prosecutor has 
thought it most proper to let alone ; and from the Second 
Part he has selected a few short paragraphs, making in the 
whole not quite two pages of the same printing as in the 
cheap edition. Those paragraphs relate chiefly to certain 
facts, such as the revolution of 1688, and the coming of 
George the First, commonly called of the House of Han- 
over, or the House of Brunswick, or some such House. The 
arguments, plans and principles contained in the work, the 
prosecutor has not ventured to attack. They are beyond 
his reach. 



y6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

The Act which the prosecutor appears to rest most upon 
for the support of the prosecution, is the Act intituled, " An 
Act, declaring the rights and liberties of the subject, and 
settling the succession of the crown," passed in the first year 
of William and Mary, and more commonly known by the 
name of the "Bill of Rights." 

I have called this bill " A Bill of wrongs and of insult. 1 ' 
My reasons, and also my proofs, are as follow : 

The method and principle which this Bill takes for declar- 
ing rights and liberties, are in direct contradiction to rights 
and liberties ; it is an assumed attempt to take them wholly 
from posterity — for the declaration in the said Bill is as 
follows : 

" The Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do, 
in the name of all the people, most humbly and faithfully sub- 
mit themselves ■, their heirs, and posterity for ever ; " that is, 
to William and Mary his wife, their heirs and successors. 
This is a strange way of declaring rights and liberties. But 
the Parliament who made this declaration in the name, and 
on the part, of the people, had no authority from them for 
so doing ; and with respect to posterity for ever, they had no 
right or authority whatever in the case. It was assumption 
and usurpation. I have reasoned very extensively against 
the principle of this Bill, in the first part of Rights of Man ; 
the prosecutor has silently admitted that reasoning, and he 
now commences a prosecution on the authority of the Bill, 
after admitting the reasoning against it. 

It is also to be observed, that the declaration in this Bill, 
abject and irrational as it is, had no other intentional opera- 
tion than against the family of the Stuarts, and their abet- 
tors. The idea did not then exist, that in the space of an 
hundred years, posterity might discover a different and 
much better system of government, and that every species 
of hereditary government might fall, as Popes and Monks 
had fallen before. This, I say, was not then thought of, 
and therefore the application of the Bill, in the present case, 
is a new, erroneous, and illegal application, and is the same 
as creating a new Bill ex post facto. 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO A DDK ES SEA'S. J J 

It has ever been the craft of Courtiers, for the purpose of 
keeping up an expensive and enormous Civil List, and a 
mummery of useless and antiquated places and offices at the 
public expence, to be continually hanging England upon 
some individual or other, called King, though the man 
might not have capacity to be a parish constable. The folly 
and absurdity of this, is appearing more and more every 
day ; and still those men continue to act as if no alteration 
in the public opinion had taken place. They hear each 
other's nonsense, and suppose the whole nation talks the 
same Gibberish. 

Let such men cry up the House of Orange, or the House 
of Brunswick, if they please. They would cry up any other 
house if it suited their purpose, and give as good reasons for 
it. But what is this house, or that house, or any other 
house to a nation ? " For a nation to be free, it is sufficient 
that she wills it." Her freedom depends wholly upon her- 
self, and not on any house, nor on any individual. I ask 
not in what light this cargo of foreign houses appears to 
others, but I will say in what light it appears to me — It was 
like the trees of the forest, saying unto the bramble, come 
thou and reign over us. 

Thus much for both their houses. I now come to speak 
of two other houses, which are also put into the information, 
and those are the House of Lords, and the House of Com- 
mons. Here, I suppose, the Attorney-General intends to 
prove me guilty of speaking either truth or falsehood ; for, 
according to the modern interpretation of Libels, it does 
not signify which, and the only improvement necessary to 
shew the compleat absurdity of such doctrine, would be, to 
prosecute a man for uttering a most false and wicked truth. 

I will quote the part I am going to give, from the Office 
Copy, with the Attorney General's inuendoes, enclosed in 
parentheses as they stand in the information, and I hope 
that civil list officer will caution the Court not to laugh 
when he reads them, and also to take care not to laugh 
himself. 

The information states, that Thomas Paine, being a wicked, 



78 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

malicious, seditious, and evil-disposed person, hath, with force 
and arms, and most wicked cunning, written and published a 
certain false, scandalous, malicious, and seditious libel ; in one 
part thereof, to the tenor and effect following, that is to say — 

"With respect to the two Houses, of which the English Parlia- 
ment {meaning the Parliament of this Kingdom) is composed, they 
appear to be effectually influenced into one, and, as a Legislature, 
to have no temper of its own. The Minister, (meaning the Minis- 
ter employed by the King of this Realm, in the administration of the 
Government thereof 1) whoever he at any time may be, touches it 
(meaning the two Houses of Parliament of this Kingdom) as with 
an opium wand, and it (i?ieaning the two Houses of Parlia?nent of 
this Kingdom) sleeps obedience." 

As I am not malicious enough to disturb their repose, 
though it be time they should awake, I leave the two 
Houses and the Attorney General, to the enjoyment of 
their dreams, and proceed to a new subject. 

The Gentlemen, to whom I shall next address myself, are 
those who have stiled themselves " Friends of the people," 
holding their meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern, London. 1 

One of the principal Members of this Society, is Mr. Grey, 
who, I believe, is also one of the most independent Mem- 
bers in Parliament. 3 I collect this opinion from what Mr. 
Burke formerly mentioned to me, rather than from any 
knowledge of my own. The occasion was as follows : 

I was in England at the time the bubble broke forth about 
Nootka Sound : and the day after the King's Message, as 
it is called, was sent to Parliament, I wrote a note to Mr. 
Burke, that upon the condition the French Revolution 
should not be a subject (for he was then writing the book 

1 See in the Introduction to this volume Chauvelin's account of this Associa- 
tion. — Editor. 

2 In the debate in the House of Commons, Dec. 14, 1792, Mr. Grey is thus 
reported : " Mr. Grey was not a friend to Paine's doctrines, but he was not to 
be deterred by a man from acknowledging that he considered the rights of man 
as the foundation of every government, and those who stood out against those 
rights as conspirators against the people." He severely denounced the Procla- 
mation. Pari. Hist., vol. xxvi. — Editor. 



I79 2 l ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 79 

I have since answered) I would call on him the next day, 
and mention some matters I was acquainted with, respect- 
ing the affair ; for it appeared to me extraordinary that any 
body of men, calling themselves Representatives, should 
commit themselves so precipitately, or " sleep obedience," as 
Parliament was then doing, and run a nation into expence, 
and perhaps a war, without so much as enquiring into the 
case, or the subject, of both which I had some knowledge. 

When I saw Mr. Burke, and mentioned the circumstances 
to him, he particularly spoke of Mr. Grey, as the fittest 
Member to bring such matters forward ; " for," said Mr. 
Burke, " / am not the proper person to do it, as I am in a 
treaty with Mr. Pitt about Mr. Hastings's trial." I hope 
the Attorney General will allow, that Mr. Burke was then 
sleeping his obedience. — But to return to the Society 

I cannot bring myself to believe, that the general motive 
of this Society is any thing more than that by which every 
former parliamentary opposition has been governed, and by 
which the present is sufficiently known. Failing in their 
pursuit of power and place within doors, they have now 
(and that in not a very mannerly manner) endeavoured to 
possess themselves of that ground out of doors, which, had 
it not been made by others, would not have been made by 
them. They appear to me to have watched, with more 
cunning than candour, the progress of a certain publica- 
tion, and when they saw it had excited a spirit of enquiry, 
and was rapidly spreading, they stepped forward to profit 
by the opportunity, and Mr. Fox then called it a Libel. In 
saying this, he libelled himself. Politicians of this cast, 
such, I mean, as those who trim between parties, and lye by 
for events, are to be found in every country, and it never 
yet happened that they did not do more harm than good. 
They embarrass business, fritter it to nothing, perplex the 
people, and the event to themselves generally is, that they 
go just far enough to make enemies of the few, without 
going far enough to make friends of the many. 

Whoever will read the declarations of this Society, of the 
25th of April and 5th of May, will find a studied reserve 



80 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

upon all the points that are real abuses. They speak not 
once of the extravagance of Government, of the abominable 
list of unnecessary and sinecure places and pensions, of the 
enormity of the Civil List, of the excess of taxes, nor of any 
one matter that substantially affects the nation ; and from 
some conversation that has passed in that Society, it does 
not appear to me that it is any part of their plan to carry 
this class of reforms into practice. No Opposition Party 
ever did, when it gained possession. 

In making these free observations, I mean not to enter 
into contention with this Society ; their incivility towards 
me is what I should expect from place-hunting reformers. 
They are welcome, however, to the ground they have ad- 
vanced upon, and I wish that every individual among them 
may act in the same upright, uninfluenced, and public 
spirited manner that I have done. Whatever reforms may 
be obtained, and by whatever means, they will be for the 
benefit of others and not of me. I have no other interest 
in the cause than the interest of my heart. The part I 
have acted has been wholly that of a volunteer, uncon- 
nected with party ; and when I quit, it shall be as honourably 
as I began. 

I consider the reform of Parliament, by an application to 
Parliament, as proposed by the Society, to be a worn-out 
hackneyed subject, about which the nation is tired, and the 
parties are deceiving each other. It is not a subject that is 
cognizable before Parliament, because no Government has 
a right to alter itself, either in whole or in part. The right, 
and the exercise of that right, appertains to the nation only, 
and the proper means is by a national convention, elected 
for the purpose, by all the people. By this, the will of the 
nation, whether to reform or not, or what the reform shall 
be, or how far it shall extend, will be known, and it cannot 
be known by any other means. Partial addresses, or sepa- 
rate associations, are not testimonies of the general will. 

It is, however, certain, that the opinions of men, with 
respect to systems and principles of government, are 
changing fast in all countries. The alteration in England, 



I79 2 l ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 8 1 

within the space of a little more than a year, is far greater 
than could have been believed, and it is daily and hourly in- 
creasing. It moves along the country with the silence of 
thought. The enormous expence of Government has pro- 
voked men to think, by making them feel ; and the Proc- 
lamation has served to increase jealousy and disgust. To 
prevent, therefore, those commotions which too often and 
too suddenly arise from suffocated discontents, it is best 
that the general WILL should have the full and free oppor- 
tunity of being publicly ascertained and known. 

Wretched as the state of representation is in England, it 
is every day becoming worse, because the unrepresented 
parts of the nation are increasing in population and prop- 
erty, and the represented parts are decreasing. It is, there- 
fore, no ill-grounded estimation to say, that as not one person 
in seven is represented, at least fourteen millions of taxes out 
of the seventeen millions, are paid by the unrepresented part ; 
for although copyholds and leaseholds are assessed to the 
land-tax, the holders are unrepresented. Should then a 
general demur take place as to the obligation of paying 
taxes, on the ground of not being represented, it is not the 
Representatives of Rotten Boroughs, nor Special Juries, 
that can decide the question. This is one of the possible 
cases that ought to be foreseen, in order to prevent the 
inconveniencies that might arise to numerous individuals, 
by provoking it. 

I confess I have no idea of petitioning for rights. What- 
ever the rights of people are, they have a right to them, and 
none have a right either to withhold them, or to grant them. 
Government ought to be established on such principles of 
justice as to exclude the occasion of all such applications, 
for wherever they appear they are virtually accusations. 

I wish that Mr. Grey, since he has embarked in the busi- 
ness, would take the whole of it into consideration. 1 [e will 
then see that the right of reforming the state of the Repre- 
sentation does not reside in Parliament, and that the only 
motion he could consistently make would be, that Par- 
liament should recommend the election of a convention of 



82 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

the people, because all pay taxes. But whether Parliament 
recommended it or not, the right of the nation would 
neither be lessened nor increased thereby. 

As to Petitions from the unrepresented part, they ought 
not to be looked for. As well might it be expected that 
Manchester, Sheffield, &c. should petition the rotten Bor- 
oughs, as that they should petition the Representatives of 
those Boroughs. Those two towns alone pay far more taxes 
than all the rotten Boroughs put together, and it is scarcely 
to be expected they should pay their court either to the 
Boroughs, or the Borough-mongers. 

It ought also to be observed, that what is called Parlia- 
ment, is composed of two houses that have always declared 
against the right of each other to interfere in any matter 
that related to the circumstances of either, particularly that 
of election. A reform, therefore, in the representation can- 
not, on the ground they have individually taken, become the 
subject of an act of Parliament, because such a mode would 
include the interference, against which the Commons on their 
part have protested ; but must, as well on the ground of 
formality, as on that of right, proceed from a National Con- 
vention. 

Let Mr. Grey, or any other man, sit down and endeavour 
to put his thoughts together, for the purpose of drawing up 
an application to Parliament for a reform of Parliament, and 
he will soon convince himself of the folly of the attempt. 
He will find that he cannot get on ; that he cannot make his 
thoughts join, so as to produce any effect ; for, whatever 
formality of words he may use, they will unavoidably include 
two ideas directly opposed to each other ; the one in setting 
forth the reasons, the other in praying for relief, and the two, 
when placed together, would stand thus : " The Representa- 
tion in Parliament is so very corrupt, that we can no longer 
confide in it, — and, therefore, confiding in the justice and wis- 
dom of Parliament, we pray " &c, &c. 

The heavy manner in which every former proposed appli- 
cation to Parliament has dragged, sufficiently shews, that 
though the nation might not exactly see the awkwardness 



I79 2 J ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 83 

of the measure, it could not clearly see its way, by those 
means. To this also may be added another remark, which is, 
that the worse Parliament is, the less will be the inclination 
to petition it. This indifference, viewed as it ought to be, is 
one of the strongest censures the public express. It is as if 
they were to say to them, " Ye are not worth reforming." 

Let any man examine the Court-Kalendar of Placemen in 
both Houses, and the manner in which the Civil List oper- 
ates, and he will be at no loss to account for this indifference 
and want of confidence on one side, nor of the opposition to 
reforms on the other. 

Who would have supposed that Mr. Burke, holding forth 
as he formerly did against secret influence, and corrupt ma- 
jorities, should become a concealed Pensioner? I will now 
state the case, not for the little purpose of exposing Mr. 
Burke, but to shew the inconsistency of any application to a 
body of men, more than half of whom, as far as the nation 
can at present know, may be in the same case with himself. 

Towards the end of Lord North's administration, Mr. Burke 
brought a bill into Parliament, generally known by Mr. Burke's 
Reform Bill; in which, among other things, it is enacted, 
11 That no pension exceeding the sum of three hundred 
pounds a year, shall be granted to any one person, and that 
the whole amount of the pensions granted in one year shall 
not exceed six hundred pounds ; a list of which, together 
with the names of the persons to whom the same are granted, 
shall be laid before Parliament in twenty days after the be- 
ginning of each session, until the whole pension list shall be 
reduced to ninety thousand pounds." A provisory clause 
is afterwards added, "That it shall be lawful for the 1 
Commissioner of the Treasury, to return into the Exchequer 
any pension or annuity, without a name, on his making oath 
that such pension or annuity is not directly or indirectly for 
the benefit, use, or behoof of any Member of the House of 
Commons." 

But soon after that administration ended, and the party 
Mr. Burke acted with came into power, it appears from the 
circumstances I am going to relate, that Mr. Burke became 



84 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

himself a Pensioner in disguise ; in a similar manner as if a 
pension had been granted in the name of John Nokes, to be 
privately paid to and enjoyed by Tom Stiles. The name of 
Edmund Burke does not appear in the original transaction : 
but after the pension was obtained, Mr. Burke wanted to 
make the most of it at once, by selling or mortgaging it ; and 
the gentleman in whose name the pension stands, applied to 
one of the public offices for that purpose. This unfortu- 
nately brought forth the name of Edmund Burke, as the real 
Pensioner of 1,500/. per annum. 1 When men trumpet forth 
what they call the blessings of the Constitution, it ought to 
be known what sort of blessings they allude to. 

As to the Civil List of a million a year, it is not to be 
supposed that any one man can eat, drink, or consume the 
whole upon himself. The case is, that above half the sum 
is annually apportioned among Courtiers, and Court Mem- 
bers, of both Houses, in places and offices, altogether insig- 
nificant and perfectly useless as to every purpose of civil, 
rational, and manly government. For instance, 

Of what use in the science and system of Government is 
what is called a Lord Chamberlain, a Master and Mistress of 
the Robes, a Master of the Horse, a Master of the Hawks, 
and one hundred other such things ? Laws derive no addi- 
tional force, nor additional excellence from such mummery. 

In the disbursements of the Civil List for the year 1786, 
(which may be seen in Sir John Sinclair's History of the 
Revenue,) are four separate charges for this mummery office 
of Chamberlain : 

1st, 38,778/. 175. — 

2d, 3,000 — — 

3d, 24,069 19 — 

4th, 10,000 18 $d. 



75,849/. 14J. id. 
Besides 1,119/. charged for Alms. 

From this sample the rest may be guessed at. As to the 
Master of the Hawks, (there are no hawks kept, and if there 

1 See note at the end of this chapter. — Editor. 



I79 2 l ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 85 

were, it is no reason the people should pay the expence of 
feeding them, many of whom are put to it to get bread for 
their children,) his salary is 1,372/. \os. 

And besides a list of items of this kind, sufficient to fill 
a quire of paper, the Pension lists alone are 107,404/. 135. 
4^/. which is a greater sum than all the expences of the fed- 
eral Government in America amount to. 

Among the items, there are two I had no expectation of 
finding, and which, in this day of enquiry after Civil List 
influence, ought to be exposed. The one is an annual pay- 
ment of one thousand seven hundred pounds to the Dissent- 
ing Ministers in England, and the other, eight hundred 
pounds to those of Ireland. 

This is the fact ; and the distribution, as I am informed, 
is as follows : The whole sum of 1,700/. is paid to one person, 
a Dissenting Minister in London, who divides it among eight 
others, and those eight among such others as they please. 
The Lay-body of the Dissenters, and many of their principal 
Ministers, have long considered it as dishonourable, and have 
endeavoured to prevent it, but still it continues to be 
secretly paid ; and as the world has sometimes seen very 
fulsome Addresses from parts of that body, it may naturally 
be supposed that the receivers, like Bishops and other 
Court-Clergy, are not idle in promoting them. How the 
money is distributed in Ireland, I know not. 

To recount all the secret history of the Civil List, is not the 
intention of this publication. It is sufficient, in this place, 
to expose its general character, and the mass of influence it 
keeps alive. It will necessarily become one of the objects 
of reform ; and therefore enough is said to shew that, under 
its operation, no application to Parliament can be expected 
to succeed, nor can consistently be made. 

Such reforms will not be promoted by the Party that is in 
possession of those places, nor by the Opposition who are 
waiting for them ; and as to a mere reform, In the state of 
the Representation, the idea that another Parliament, differ- 
ently elected from the present, but still a third component 
part of the same system, and subject to the controul of the 



86 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

other two parts, will abolish those abuses, is altogether delu- 
sion ; because it is not only impracticable on the ground of 
formality, but is unwisely exposing another set of men to 
the same corruptions that have tainted the present. 

Were all the objects that require reform accomplishable 
by a mere reform in the state of the Representation, the 
persons who compose the present Parliament might, with 
rather more propriety, be asked to abolish all the abuses 
themselves, than be applied to as the more instruments of 
doing it by a future Parliament. If the virtue be wanting 
to abolish the abuse, it is also wanting to act as the means, 
and the nation must, from necessity, proceed by some other 
plan. 

Having thus endeavoured to shew what the abject condi- 
tion of Parliament is, and the impropriety of going a sec- 
ond time over the same ground that has before miscarried, 
I come to the remaining part of the subject. 

There ought to be, in the constitution of every country, a 
mode of referring back, on any extraordinary occasion, to 
the sovereign and original constituent power, which is the 
nation itself. The right of altering any part of a Govern- 
ment, cannot, as already observed, reside in the Government, 
or that Government might make itself what it pleased. 

It ought also to be taken for granted, that though a na- 
tion may feel inconveniences, either in the excess of taxa- 
tion, or in the mode of expenditure, or in any thing else, it 
may not at first be sufficiently assured in what part of its 
government the defect lies, or where the evil originates. It 
may be supposed to be in one part, and on enquiry be 
found to be in another ; or partly in all. This obscurity 
is naturally interwoven with what are called mixed Govern- 
ments. 

Be, however, the reform to be accomplished whatever it 
may, it can only follow in consequence of obtaining a full 
knowledge of all the causes that have rendered such reform 
necessary, and every thing short of this is guess-work or 
frivolous cunning. In this case, it cannot be supposed that 
any application to Parliament can bring forward this knowl- 



I79 2 J ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. %f 

edge. That body is itself the supposed cause, or one of the 
supposed causes, of the abuses in question ; and cannot be 
expected, and ought not to be asked, to give evidence 
against itself. The enquiry, therefore, which is of necessity 
the first step in the business, cannot be trusted to Parlia- 
ment, but must be undertaken by a distinct body of men, 
separated from every suspicion of corruption or influence. 

Instead, then, of referring to rotten Boroughs and absurd 
Corporations for Addresses, or hawking them about the 
country to be signed by a few dependant tenants, the real 
and effectual mode would be to come at once to the point, 
and to ascertain the sense of the nation by electing a Na- 
tional Convention. By this method, as already observed, 
the general WILL, whether to reform or not, or what the 
reform shall be, or how far it shall extend, will be known, 
and it cannot be known by any other means. Such a body, 
empowered and supported by the nation, will have authority 
to demand information upon all matters necessary to be en- 
quired into ; and no Minister, nor any person, will dare to 
refuse it. It will then be seen whether seventeen millions 
of taxes are necessary, and for what purposes they are ex- 
pended. The concealed Pensioners will then be obliged to 
unmask ; and the source of influence and corruption, if any 
such there be, will be laid open to the nation, not for the 
purpose of revenge, but of redress. 

By taking this public and national ground, all objections 
against partial Addresses on the one side, or private associa- 
tions on the other, will be done away ; THE nation will 
DECLARE ITS OWN REFORMS ; and the clamour about Party 
and Faction, or Ins or Outs, will become ridiculous. 

The plan and organization of a convention is easy in 
practice. 

In the first place, the number of inhabitants in every 
county can be sufficiently ascertained from the number of 
houses assessed to the House and Window-light tax in 
each county. This will give the rule for apportioning the 
number of Members to be elected to the National Conven- 
tion in each of the counties. 



88 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

If the total number of inhabitants in England be seven 
millions, and the total number of Members to be elected to 
the Convention be one thousand, the number of members 
to be elected in a county containing one hundred and fifty- 
thousand inhabitants will be twenty-one, and in like propor- 
tion for any other county. 

As the election of a Convention must, in order to ascer- 
tain the general sense of the nation, go on grounds different 
from that of Parliamentary elections, the mode that best 
promises this end will have no difficulties to combat with 
from absurd customs and pretended rights. The right of 
every man will be the same, whether he lives in a city, a 
town, or a village. The custom of attaching Rights to 
place, or in other words, to inanimate matter, instead of to 
the person, independently of place, is too absurd to make 
any part of a rational argument. 

As every man in the nation, of the age of twenty-one 
years, pays taxes, either out of the property he possesses, or 
out of the product of his labor, which is property to him ; 
and is amenable in his own person to every law of the land ; 
so has every one the same equal right to vote, and no one 
part of the nation, nor any individual, has a right to dispute 
the right of another. The man who should do this ought 
to forfeit the exercise of his own right, for a term of years. 
This would render the punishment consistent with the 
crime. 

When a qualification to vote is regulated by years, it is 
placed on the firmest possible ground ; because the qualifica- 
tion is such, as nothing but dying before the time can take 
away ; and the equality of Rights, as a principle, is recog- 
nized in the act of regulating the exercise. But when Rights 
are placed upon, or made dependant upon property, they 
are on the most precarious of all tenures. " Riches make 
themselves wings, and fly away," and the rights fly with 
them ; and thus they become lost to the man when they 
would be of most value. 

It is from a strange mixture of tyranny and cowardice, 
that exclusions have been set up and continued. The bold- 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 89 

ness to do wrong at first, changes afterwards into cowardly- 
craft, and at last into fear. The Representatives in England 
appear now to act as if they were afraid to do right, even in 
part, lest it should awaken the nation to a sense of all the 
wrongs it has endured. This case serves to shew, that the 
same conduct that best constitutes the safety of an individ- 
ual, namely, a strict adherence to principle, constitutes also 
the safety of a Government, and that without it safety is but 
an empty name. When the rich plunder the poor of his 
rights, it becomes an example to the poor to plunder the 
rich of his property ; for the rights of the one are as much 
property to him, as wealth is property to the other, and the 
little all is as dear as the much. It is only by setting out on 
just principles that men are trained to be just to each other ; 
and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the 
rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the 
rich. But the guarantee, to be effectual, must be parliamen- 
tarily reciprocal. 

Exclusions are not only unjust, but they frequently operate 
as injuriously to the party who monopolizes, as to those who 
are excluded. When men seek to exclude others from par- 
ticipating in the exercise of any right, they should, at least, 
be assured, that they can effectually perform the whole of 
the business they undertake ; for, unless they do this, them- 
selves will be losers by the monopoly. This has been the 
case with respect to the monopolized right of Election. The 
monopolizing party has not been able to keep the Parlia- 
mentary Representation, to whom the power of taxation 
was entrusted, in the state it ought to have been, and have 
thereby multiplied taxes upon themselves equally with those 
who were excluded. 

A great deal has been, and will continue to be said, about 
disqualifications, arising from the commission of offences ; 
but were this subject urged to its full extent, it would dis- 
qualify a great number of the present Electors, together 
with their Representatives ; for, of all offences, none are 
more destructive to the morals of Society than Bribery and 
Corruption. It is, therefore, civility to such persons to pass 



9'J THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

this subject over, and to give them a fair opportunity of re- 
covering, or rather of creating character. 

Every thing, in the present mode of electioneering in 
England, is the reverse of what it ought to be, and the vul- 
garity that attends elections is no other than the natural 
consequence of inverting the order of the system. 

In the first place, the Candidate seeks the Elector, in- 
stead of the Elector seeking for a Representative ; and the 
Electors are advertised as being in the interest of the Can- 
didate, instead of the Candidate being in the interest of the 
Electors. The Candidate pays the Elector for his vote, in- 
stead of the Nation paying the Representative for his time 
and attendance on public business. The complaint for an 
undue election is brought by the Candidate, as if he, and not 
the Electors, were the party aggrieved ; and he takes on 
himself, at any period of the election, to break it up, by de- 
clining, as if the election was in his right and not in theirs. 

The compact that was entered into at the last Westmins- 
ter election between two of the candidates (Mr. Fox and 
Lord Hood,) was an indecent violation of the principles of 
election. The Candidates assumed, in their own persons, the 
rights of the Electors ; for, it was only in the body of the 
Electors, and not at all in the Candidates, that the right of 
making any such compact, or compromise, could exist. But 
the principle of Election and Representation is so completely 
done away, in every stage thereof, that inconsistency has no 
longer the power of surprising. 

Neither from elections thus conducted, nor from rotten 
Borough Addressers, nor from County-meetings, promoted 
by Placemen and Pensioners, can the sense of the nation be 
known. It is still corruption appealing to itself. But a Con- 
vention of a thousand persons, fairly elected, would bring 
every matter to a decided issue. 

As to County-meetings, it is only persons of leisure, or 
those who live near to the place of meeting, that can attend, 
and the number on such occasions is but like a drop in the 
bucket compared with the whole. The only consistent ser- 
vice which such meetings could render, would be that of 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 9 1 

apportioning the county into convenient districts, and when 
this is done, each district might, according to its number of 
inhabitants, elect its quota of County Members to the 
National Convention ; and the vote of each Elector might 
be taken in the parish where he resided, either by ballot or 
by voice, as he should chuse to give it. 

A National Convention thus formed, would bring together 
the sense and opinions of every part of the nation, fairly 
taken. The science of Government, and the interest of the 
Public, and of the several parts thereof, would then undergo 
an ample and rational discussion, freed from the language 
of parliamentary disguise. 

But in all deliberations of this kind, though men have a 
right to reason with, and endeavour to convince each other, 
upon any matter that respects their common good, yet, in 
point of practice, the majority of opinions, when known, 
forms a rule for the whole, and to this rule every good citi- 
zen practically conforms. 

Mr. Burke, as if he knew, (for every concealed Pensioner 
has the opportunity of knowing,) that the abuses acted 
under the present system, are too flagrant to be palliated, 
and that the majority of opinions, whenever such abuses 
should be made public, would be for a general and effectual 
reform, has endeavoured to preclude the event, by sturdily 
denying the right of a majority of a nation to act as a 
whole. Let us bestow a thought upon this case. 

When any matter is proposed as a subject for consulta- 
tion, it necessarily implies some mode of decision. Common 
consent, arising from absolute necessity, has placed this in a 
majority of opinions ; because, without it, there can be no 
decision, and consequently no order. It is, perhaps, the only 
case in which mankind, however various in their ideas upon 
other matters, can consistently be unanimous ; because it is a 
mode of decision derived from the primary original right of 
every individual concerned ; that right being first individu- 
ally exercised in giving an opinion, and whether that opinion 
shall arrange with the minority or the majority, is a subse- 
quent accidental thing that neither increases nor diminishes 



92 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

the individual original right itself. Prior to any debate, en- 
quiry, or investigation, it is not supposed to be known on 
which side the majority of opinions will fall, and therefore, 
whilst this mode of decision secures to every one the right 
of giving an opinion, it admits to every one an equal chance 
in the ultimate event. 

Among the matters that will present themselves to the 
consideration of a national convention, there is one, wholly 
of a domestic nature, but so marvellously loaded with con- 
fusion, as to appear at first sight, almost impossible to be 
reformed. I mean the condition of what is called Law. 

But, if we examine into the cause from whence this con- 
fusion, now so much the subject of universal complaint, is 
produced, not only the remedy will immediately present 
itself, but, with it, the means of preventing the like case 
hereafter. 

In the first place, the confusion has generated itself from 
the absurdity of every Parliament assuming to be eternal in 
power, and the laws partake in a similar manner, of this 
assumption. They have no period of legal or natural expi- 
ration ; and, however absurd in principle, or inconsistent in 
practice many of them have become, they still are, if not 
especially repealed, considered as making a part of the gen- 
eral mass. By this means the body of what is called Law, is 
spread over a space of several hundred years, comprehending 
laws obsolete, laws repugnant, laws ridiculous, and every 
other kind of laws forgotten or remembered ; and what ren- 
ders the case still worse, is, that the confusion multiplies 
with the progress of time.* 

To bring this misshapen monster into form, and to pre- 
vent its lapsing again into a wilderness state, only two things, 
and those very simple, are necessary. 

The first is, to review the whole mass of laws, and to 
bring forward such only as are worth retaining, and let all 

* In the time of Henry IV. a law was passed making it felony ' ' to multiply 
gold or silver, or to make use of the craft of multiplication," and this law re- 
mained two hundred and eighty -six years upon the statute books. It was then 
repealed as being ridiculous and injurious. — Author. 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 93 

the rest drop ; and to give to the laws so brought forward a 
new era, commencing from the time of such reform. 

Secondly ; that at the expiration of every twenty-one 
years (or any other stated period) a like review shall again 
be taken, and the laws, found proper to be retained, be 
again carried forward, commencing with that date, and the 
useless laws dropped and discontinued. 

By this means there can be no obsolete laws, and scarcely 
such a thing as laws standing in direct or equivocal contra- 
diction to each other, and every person will know the period 
of time to which he is to look back for all the laws in being. 

It is worth remarking, that while every other branch of 
science is brought within some commodious system, and the 
study of it simplified by easy methods, the laws take the 
contrary course, and become every year more complicated, 
entangled, confused, and obscure. 

Among the paragraphs which the Attorney General has 
taken from the Rights of Man, and put into his information, 
one is, that where I have said, " that with respect to regular 
law, there is scarcely such a thing." 

As I do not know whether the Attorney-General means 
to show this expression to be libellous, because it is TRUE, 
or because it is FALSE, I shall make no other reply to him in 
this place, than by remarking, that if almanack-makers had 
not been more judicious than law-makers, the study of 
almanacks would by this time have become as abstruse as 
the study of the law, and we should hear of a library of 
almanacks as we now do of statutes; but by the simple 
operation of letting the obsolete matter drop, and carrying 
forward that only which is proper to be retained, all that is 
necessary to be known is found within the space of a year, 
and laws also admit of being kept within some given 
period. 

I shall here close this letter, so far as it respects the Ad- 
dresses, the Proclamation, and the Prosecution ; and shall 
offer a few observations to the Society, styling itself " THE 
Friends of the People." 

That the science of government is beginning to be better 



94 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

understood than in former times, and that the age of fiction 
and political superstition, and of craft and mystery, is pass- 
ing away, are matters which the experience of every day 
proves to be true, as well in England as in other countries. 

As therefore it is impossible to calculate the silent prog- 
ress of opinion, and also impossible to govern a nation after 
it has changed its habits of thinking, by the craft or policy 
that it was governed by before, the only true method to 
prevent popular discontents and commotions is, to throw, by 
every fair and rational argument, all the light upon the sub- 
ject that can possibly be thrown ; and at the same time, to 
open the means of collecting the general sense of the nation ; 
and this cannot, as already observed, be done by any plan so 
effectually as a national convention. Here individual opin- 
ion will quiet itself by having a centre to rest upon. 

The society already mentioned, (which is made up of men 
of various descriptions, but chiefly of those called Foxites,) 
appears to me, either to have taken wrong grounds from 
want of judgment, or to have acted with cunning reserve. It 
is now amusing the people with a new phrase, namely, that 
of " a temperate and moderate reform," the interpretation 
of which is, a continuance of the abuses as lo?ig as possible. 
If we cannot hold all let us hold some. 

Who are those that are frightened at reforms ? Are the 
public afraid that their taxes should be lessened too much? 
Are they afraid that sinecure places and pensions should be 
abolished too fast ? Are the poor afraid that their condition 
should be rendered too comfortable? Is the worn-out me- 
chanic, or the aged and decayed tradesman, frightened at 
the prospect of receiving ten pounds a year out of the sur- 
plus taxes ? Is the soldier frightened at the thoughts of his 
discharge, and three shillings per week during life ? Is the 
sailor afraid that press-warrants will be abolished ? The 
Society mistakes the fears of borough-mongers, placemen, 
and pensioners, for the fears of the people ; and the temper- 
ate and moderate Reform it talks of, is calculated to suit the 
condition of the former. 

Those words, " temperate and moderate," are words either 
of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. — A thing, 



I79 2 ] ADDRESS TO ADDRESSERS. 95 

moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moder- 
ation in temper, is always a virtue ; but moderation in prin- 
ciple, is a species of vice. But who is to be the judge of 
what is a temperate and moderate Reform ? The Society 
is the representative of nobody ; neither can the unrepre- 
sented part of the nation commit this power to those in 
Parliament, in whose election they had no choice ; and, there- 
fore, even upon the ground the Society has taken, recourse 
must be had to a National Convention. 

The objection which Mr. Fox made to Mr. Grey's pro- 
posed Motion for a Parliamentary Reform was, that it con- 
tained no plan. — It certainly did not. But the plan very 
easily presents itself ; and whilst it is fair for all parties, it 
prevents the dangers that might otherwise arise from private 
or popular discontent. 

Thomas Paine. 



Editorial Note on Burke's Alleged Secret Pension. — By reference 
to Vol. II., pp. 271, 360, of this work, it will be seen that Paine mentions a re- 
port that Burke was a "pensioner in a fictitious name." A letter of John Hall 
to a relative in Leicester, (London, May 1, 1792,) says: " You will remember that 
there was a vote carried, about the conclusion of the American war, that the in- 
fluence of the Crown had increased, was increasing, and should be diminished. 
Burke, poor, and like a good angler, baited a hook with a bill to bring into 
Parliament, that no pensions should be given above ^"300 a year, but what 
should be publicly granted, and for what. (I may not be quite particular.) To 
stop that he took in another person's name ^1500 a year for life, and some time 
past he disposed of it, or sold his life out. He has been very still since his de- 
clension from the Whigs, and is not concerned in the slave-trade [question ?] as 
I hear of." This letter, now in possession of Hall's kinsman, Dr. Dutton 
Steele of Philadelphia, contains an item not in Paine's account, which may have 
been derived from it. Hall was an English scientific engineer, and acquainted 
with intelligent men in London. Paine was rather eager for a judicial en- 
counter with Burke, and probably expected to be sued by him for libel, as he 
(Burke) had once sued the Public Advertiser for a personal accusation. But 
Burke remained quiet under this charge, and Paine, outlawed, and in France, had 
no opportunity for summoning witnesses in its support. The biographers of 
Burke have silently passed over the accusation, and this might be fair enough 
were this unconfirmed charge made against a public man of stainless reputation 
in such matters. But though Burke escaped parliamentary censure for official 
corruption (May 16, 1783, by only 24 majority) he has never been vindicated. 
It was admitted that he had restored to office a cashier and an accountant dis- 
missed for dishonesty by his predecessor. ("Pari. Hist.," xxiii., pp. 801, 902.) 
He escaped censure by agreeing to suspend them. One was proved guilty, the 



g6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

other committed suicide. It was subsequently shown that one of the men had 
been an agent of the Burkes in raising India stock. (Dilke's ' 4 Papers of a Critic, " 
ii., p. 333. "Diet. Nat. Biography": art. Burke.) Paine, in his letter to the 
Attorney-General (IV. of this volume), charged that Burke had been a " masked 
pensioner " ten years. The date corresponds with a secret arrangement 
made in 1782 with Burke for a virtual pension to his son, for life, and his 
mother. Under date April 24 of that year, Burke, writing to William 
Burke at Madras, reports his appointment as Paymaster: "The office is to 
be 4000/. certain. Young Richard [his son] is the deputy with a salary of 500/. 
The office to be reformed according to the Bill. There is enough emoluments. 
In decency it could not be more. Something considerable is also to be secured 
for the life of young Richard to be a security for him and his mother. " (" Mem. 
and Cor. of Charles James Fox," i., p. 451.) It is thus certain that the Rock- 
ingham Ministry were doing for the Paymaster all they could " in decency," and 
that while posing as a reformer in reducing the expenses of that office, he was 
arranging for secret advantages to his family. It is said that the arrangement 
failed by his loss of office, but while so many of Burke's papers are withheld 
from the public (if not destroyed), it cannot be certain that something was not 
done of the kind charged by Paine. That Burke was not strict in such matters 
is further shown by his efforts to secure for his son the rich sinecure of the 
Clerkship of the Polls, in which he failed. Burke was again Paymaster in 
1783-4, and this time remained long enough in office to repeat more success- 
fully his secret attempts to secure irregular pensions for his family. On April 
7, 1894, Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge sold in London (Lot 404) a 
letter of Burke (which I have not seen in print), dated July 16, 1795. It was 
written to the Chairman of the Commission on Public Accounts, who had re- 
quired him to render his accounts for the time he was in office as Paymaster- 
General, 1783-4. Burke refuses to do so in four angry and quibbling pages, 
and declares he will appeal to his country against the demand if it is pressed. 
Why should Burke wish to conceal his accounts? There certainly were sus- 
picions around Burke, and they may have caused Pitt to renounce his inten- 
tion, conveyed to Burke, August 30, 1794, of asking Parliament to bestow on 
him a pension. " It is not exactly known," says one of Burke's editors, " what 
induced Mr. Pitt to decline bringing before Parliament a measure which he had 
himself proposed without any solicitation whatever on the part of Burke." 
(Burke's "Works," English Ed., 1852, ii., p. 252.) The pensions were given 
without consultation with Parliament — 1200/. granted him by the King from the 
Civil List, and 2500/. by Pitt in West Indian 4^ per cents. Burke, on taking 
his seat beside Pitt in the great Paine Parliament (December, 1792), had pro- 
tested that he had not abandoned his party through expectation of a pension, 
but the general belief of those with whom he had formerly acted was that 
he had been promised a pension. A couplet of the time ran : 

" A pension makes him change his plan, 
And loudly damn the rights of man." 

Writing in 1819, Cobbett says : "As my Lord Grenville introduced the name 
of Burke, suffer me, my Lord, to introduce the name of the man [Paine] who 
put this Burke to shame, who drove him off the public stage to seek shelter in 
the Pension List, and who is now named fifty million times where the name of 
the pensioned Burke is mentioned once." — Editor. 



X. 

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE. 

Paris, Sept. 25 1 , [1792.] 
First Year of the Republic. 

Fellow Citizens, 

I receive, with affectionate gratitude, the honour which 
the late National Assembly has conferred upon me, by 
adopting me a Citizen of France : and the additional honor 
of being elected by my fellow citizens a Member of the 
National Convention. 1 Happily impressed, as I am, by 
those testimonies of respect shown towards me as an indi- 
vidual, I feel my felicity increased by seeing the barrier 
broken down that divided patriotism by spots of earth, and 
limited citizenship to the soil, like vegetation. 

Had those honours been conferred in an hour of national 
tranquillity, they would have afforded no other means of 
shewing my affection, than to have accepted and enjoyed 
them ; but they come accompanied with circumstances that 
give me the honourable opportunity of commencing my 
citizenship in the stormy hour of difficulties. I come not 
to enjoy repose. Convinced that the cause of France is the 
cause of all mankind, and that liberty cannot be purchased 
by a wish, I gladly share with you the dangers and honours 
necessary to success. 

I am well aware that the moment of any great change, 
such as that accomplished on the 10th of August, isunavoid- 

1 The National Assembly (August 26, 1792) conferred the title of " French 
Citizen " on " Priestley, Payne, Bentham, Wilberforce, Clarkson, Mackintosh, 
Campe, Cormelle, Paw, David Williams, Gorani, AnacharsisClootz, Pestalozzi, 
Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Klopstoc, Kosciusko, Gilleers." — Editor. 

VOL III— 7 



98 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. \M9 2 

ably the moment of terror and confusion. The mind, highly 
agitated by hope, suspicion and apprehension, continues 
without rest till the change be accomplished. But let us 
now look calmly and confidently forward, and success is 
certain. It is no longer the paltry cause of kings, or of this, 
or of that individual, that calls France and her armies into 
action. It is the great cause of ALL. It is the establish- 
ment of a new aera, that shall blot despotism from the earth, 
and fix, on the lasting principles of peace and citizenship, 
the great Republic of Man. 

It has been my fate to have borne a share in the com- 
mencement and complete establishment of one Revolution, 
(I mean the Revolution of America.) The success and 
events of that Revolution are encouraging to us. The pros- 
perity and happiness that have since flowed to that country, 
have amply rewarded her for all the hardships she endured 
and for all the dangers she encountered. 

The principles on which that Revolution began, have 
extended themselves to Europe ; and an over-ruling Provi- 
dence is regenerating the Old World by the principles of the 
New. The distance of America from all the other parts of 
the globe, did not admit of her carrying those principles 
beyond her own situation. It is to the peculiar honour of 
France, that she now raises the standard of liberty for all 
nations ; and in fighting her own battles, contends for the 
rights of all mankind. 

The same spirit of fortitude that insured success to 
America ; will insure it to France, for it is impossible to con- 
quer a nation determined to be free ! The military circum- 
stances that now unite themselves to France, are such as the 
despots of the earth know nothing of, and can form no cal- 
culation upon. They know not what it is to fight against a 
nation ; they have only been accustomed to make war upon 
each other, and they know, from system and practice, how 
to calculate the probable success of despot against despot ; 
and here their knowledge and their experience end. 

But in a contest like the present a new and boundless 
variety of circumstances arise, that deranges all such cus- 



I79 2 ] TO THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE. 99 

tomary calculations. When a whole nation acts as an army, 
the despot knows not the extent of the power against which 
he contends. New armies arise against him with the neces- 
sity of the moment. It is then that the difficulties of an 
invading enemy multiply, as in the former case they dimin- 
ished ; and he finds them at their height when he expected 
them to end. 

The only war that has any similarity of circumstances 
with the present, is the late revolution war in America. On 
her part, as it now is in France, it was a war of the whole 
nation : — there it was that the enemy, by beginning to con- 
quer, put himself in a condition of being conquered. His 
first victories prepared him for defeat. He advanced till he 
could not retreat, and found himself in the midst of a nation 
of armies. 

Were it now to be proposed to the Austrians and Prus- 
sians, to escort them into the middle of France, and there 
leave them to make the most of such a situation, they would 
see too much into the dangers of it to accept the offer, and 
the same dangers would attend them, could they arrive 
there by any other means. Where, then, is the military 
policy of their attempting to obtain, by force, that which 
they would refuse by choice ? But to reason with despots 
is throwing reason away. The best of arguments is a vigor- 
ous preparation. 

Man is ever a stranger to the ways by which Providence 
regulates the order of things. The interference of foreign 
despots may serve to introduce into their own enslaved 
countries the principles they come to oppose. Liberty and 
Equality are blessings too great to be the inheritance of 
France alone. It is an honour to her to be their first cham- 
pion ; and she may now say to her enemies, with a mighty 
voice, " O ! ye Austrians, ye Prussians ! ye who now turn 
your bayonets against us, it is for you, it is for all Europe, 
it is for all mankind, and not for France alone, that she 
raises the standard of Liberty and Equality ! " 

The public cause has hitherto suffered from the contradic- 
tions contained in the Constitution of the Constituent As- 



IOO THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

sembly. Those contradictions have served to divide the 
opinions of individuals at home, and to obscure the great 
principles of the Revolution in other countries. But when 
those contradictions shall be removed, and the Constitution 
be made conformable to the declaration of Rights ; when 
the bagatelles of monarchy, royalty, regency, and hereditary 
succession, shall be exposed, with all their absurdities, a new 
ray of light will be thrown over the world, and the Revolu- 
tion will derive new strength by being universally under- 
stood. 

The scene that now opens itself to France extends far 
beyond the boundaries of her own dominions. Every nation 
is becoming her colleague, and every court is become her 
enemy. It is now the cause of all nations, against the cause 
of all courts. The terror that despotism felt, clandestinely 
begot a confederation of despots ; and their attack upon 
France was produced by their fears at home. 

In entering on this great scene, greater than any nation 
has yet been called to act in, let us say to the agitated mind, 
be calm. Let us punish by instructing, rather than by 
revenge. Let us begin the new sera by a greatness of friend- 
ship, and hail the approach of union and success. 
Your Fellow-Citizen, 

Thomas Paine. 



XL 
ANTI-MONARCHAL ESSAY. 



WHEN we reach some great good, long desired, we begin 
by felicitating ourselves. We triumph, we give ourselves up 
to this joy without rendering to our minds any full account 
of our reasons for it. Then comes reflexion : we pass in 
review all the circumstances of our new happiness ; we com- 
pare it in detail with our former condition ; and each of these 
thoughts becomes a fresh enjoyment. This satisfaction, 
elucidated and well-considered, we now desire to procure for 
our readers. 

In seeing Royalty abolished and the Republic established, 
all France has resounded with unanimous plaudits. 3 Yet 

1 Translated for this work from Le Patriote Francois, " Samedi 20 Octobre, 
1792, Tan i er de la Republique. Supplement au No. 1167," in the Bibliotheque 
Nationale, Paris. It is headed, ' 4 Essai anti-monarchique, a l'usage des nouveaux 
republicans, tire de la Feuille Villageoise." I have not found this Feuille, but 
no doubt Brissot, in editing the essay for his journal {Le Patriote Francois) 
abridged it, and in one instance Paine is mentioned by name. Although in this 
essay Paine occasionally repeats sentences used elsewhere, and naturally main- 
tains his well-known principles, the work has a peculiar interest as indicating 
the temper and visions of the opening revolution. — Editor. 

2 Royalty was abolished by the National Convention on the first day of its 
meeting, September 21, 1792, the revolutionary Calendar beginning next day. 
Paine was chosen by his fellow-deputies of Calais to congratulate the Conven- 
tion, and did so in a brief address, dated October 27, which was loaned by M. 
Charavay to the Historical Exposition of the Revolution at Paris, 1889, where I 
made the subjoined translation : 

M Citizen President : In the name of the Deputies of the Department of 
the Pas de Calais, I have the honor of presenting to the Convention the felici- 
tations of the General Council of the Commune of Calais on the abolition of 
Royalty. 

' ' Amid the joy inspired by this event, one cannot forbear some pain at the 



102 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

some who clap their hands do not sufficiently understand the 
condition they are leaving or that which they are assuming. 

The perjuries of Louis, the conspiracies of his court, the 
wildness of his worthy brothers, have filled every Frenchman 
with horror, and this race was dethroned in their hearts 
before its fall by legal decree. But it is little to throw down 
an idol ; it is the pedestal that above all must be broken 
down ; it is the regal office rather than the incumbent that is 
murderous. All do not realize this. 

Why is Royalty an absurd and detestable government ? 
Why is the Republic a government accordant with nature and 
reason ? At the present time a Frenchman should put him- 
self in a position to answer these two questions clearly. For, 
in fine, if you are free and contented it is yet needful that 
you should know why. 

Let us first discuss Royalty or Monarchy. Although one 
often wishes to distinguish between these names, common 
usage gives them the same sense. 

ROYALTY. 

Bands of brigands unite to subvert a country, place it 
under tribute, seize its lands, enslave its inhabitants. The 
expedition completed, the chieftain of the robbers adopts the 
title of monarch or king. Such is the origin of Royalty 
among all tribes — huntsmen, agriculturists, shepherds. 

A second brigand arrives who finds it equitable to take away 
by force what was conquered by violence : he dispossesses 
the first ; he chains him, kills him, reigns in his place. Ere 
long time effaces the memory of this origin ; the successors 
rule under a new form ; they do a little good, from policy ; 
they corrupt all who surround them ; they invent fictitious 
genealogies to make their families sacred ' ; the knavery of 

folly of our ancestors, who have placed us under the necessity of treating gravely 
(solennellement) the abolition of a phantom (fantome). — Thomas Paine, 
Deputy. " — Editor. 

I The Boston Investigator's compilation of Paine's Works contains the follow- 
ing as " supposed to be Mr. Paine's " : 

II Royal Pedigree. — George the Third, who was the grandson of George the 
Second, who was the son of George the First, who was the son of the Princess 



1792] ROYALTY. ' 103 

priests comes to their aid ; they take Religion for a life-guard : 
thenceforth tyranny becomes immortal, the usurped power 
becomes an hereditary right. 

The effects of Royalty have been entirely harmonious with 
its origin. What scenes of horror, what refinements of 
iniquity, do the annals of monarchies present ! If we should 
paint human nature with a baseness of heart, an hypocrisy, 
from which all must recoil and humanity disavow, it would 
be the portraiture of kings, their ministers and courtiers. 

And why should it not be so ? What should such a mon- 
strosity produce but miseries and crimes ? What is monarchy ? 
It has been finely disguised, and the people familiarized with 
the odious title : in its real sense the word signifies the abso- 
lute power of one single individual, who may with impunity 
be stupid, treacherous, tyrannical, etc. Is it not an insult to 
nations to wish them so governed ? 

Government by a single individual is vicious in itself, in- 
dependently of the individual's vices. For however little a 
State, the prince is nearly always too small : where is the 
proportion between one man and the affairs of a whole 
nation ? 

True, some men of genius have been seen under the dia- 
dem ; but the evil is then even greater: the ambition of such 
a man impels him to conquest and despotism, his subjects 
soon have to lament his glory, and sing their Te-deums while 

Sophia, who was the cousin of Anne, who was the sister of William and Mary, 
who were the daughter and son-in-law of James the Second, who was the son of 
Charles the First, who was a traitor to his country and decapitated as such, who 
was the son of James the First, who was the son of Mary, who was the sister of 
Edward the Sixth, who was the son of Henry the Eighth, who was the cold- 
blooded murderer of his wives, and the promoter of the Protestant religion, who 
was the son of Henry the Seventh, who slew Richard the Third, who smothered 
his nephew Edward the Fifth, who was the son of Edward the Fourth, who with 
bloody Richard slew Henry the Sixth, who succeeded Henry the Fifth, who was 
the son of Henry the Fourth, who was the cousin of Richard the Second, who 
was the son of Edward the Third, who was the son of Richard the Second, who 
was the son of Edward the First, who was the son of Henry the Third, who was 
the son of John, who was the brother of Richard the First, who was the son of 
Henry the Second, who was the son of Matilda, who was the daughter of Henry 
the First, who was the brother of William Rufus, who was the son of William 
the Conqueror, who was the son of a whore." — Editor. 



104 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

perishing with hunger. Such is the history of Louis XIV. 
and so many others. 

But if ordinary men in power repay you with incapacity 
or with princely vices ? " But those who come to the front 
in monarchies are frequently mere mean mischief-makers, 
commonplace knaves, petty intriguers, whose small wits, 
which in courts reach large places, serve only to display their 
ineptitude in public, as soon as they appear." * In short, 
monarchs do nothing, and their ministers do evil : this is the 
history of all monarchies. 

But if Royalty as such is baneful, as hereditary succession 
it is equally revolting and ridiculous. What ! there exists 
among my kind a man who pretends that he is born to 
govern me ? Whence derived he such right ? From his and 
my ancestors, says he. But how could they transmit to him 
a right they did not possess ? Man has no authority over 
generations unborn. I cannot be the slave of the dead, 
more than of the living. Suppose that instead of our pos- 
terity, it was we who should succeed ourselves : we should 
not to-day be able to despoil ourselves of the rights which 
would belong to us in our second life: for a stronger reason 
we cannot so despoil others. 

An hereditary crown ! A transmissible throne ! What a 
notion ! With even a little reflexion, can any one tolerate it ? 
Should human beings then be the property of certain indi- 
viduals, born or to be born ? Are we then to treat our de- 
scendants in advance as cattle, who shall have neither will 
nor rights of their own? To inherit government is to inherit 
peoples, as if they were herds. It is the basest, the most 
shameful fantasy that ever degraded mankind. 

It is wrong to reproach kings with their ferocity, their 
brutal indifference, the oppressions of the people, and mo- 
lestations of citizens : it is hereditary succession that makes 
them what they are : this breeds monsters as a marsh breeds 
vipers. 

The logic on which the hereditary prince rests is in effect 
this : I derive my power from my birth ; I derive my birth 

* J. J. Rousseau, Contrat Social. — Author. 






1792] ROYALTY. 105 

from God ; therefore I owe nothing to men. It is little that 
he has at hand a complacent minister, he continues to in- 
dulge, conscientiously, in all the crimes of tyranny. This 
has been seen in all times and countries. 

Tell me, then, what is there in common between him who 
is master of a people, and the people of whom he is master? 
Are these masters really of their kind ? It is by sympathy that 
we are good and human : with whom does a monarch sympa- 
thize? When my neighbor suffers I pity, because I put 
myself in his place : a monarch pities none, because he has 
never been, can never be, in any other place than his own. 

A monarch is an egoist by nature, the egoist par excellence. 
A thousand traits show that this kind of men have no point 
of contact with the rest of humanity. There was demanded 
of Charles II. the punishment of Lauderdale, his favorite, 
who had infamously oppressed the Scotch. "Yes," said 
Charles coolly, " this man has done much against the Scotch, 
but I cannot see that he has done anything against my 
interests." Louis XIV. often said : " If I follow the wishes 
of the people, I cannot act the king." Even such phrases as 
"misfortunes of the State," "safety of the State," filled 
Louis XIV. with wrath. 

Could nature make a law which should assure virtue and 
wisdom invariably in these privileged castes that perpetuate 
themselves on thrones, there would be no objection to their 
hereditary succession. But let us pass Europe in review: 
all of its monarchs are the meanest of men. This one a 
tyrant, that one an imbecile, another a traitor, the next a 
debauchee, while some muster all the vices. It looks as if 
fate and nature had aimed to show our epoch, and all nations, 
the absurdity and enormity of Royalty. 

But I mistake : this epoch has nothing peculiar. For, 
such is the essential vice of this royal succession by animal 
filiation, the peoples have not even the chances of nature, — 
they cannot even hope for a good prince as an alternative. 
All things conspire to deprive of reason and justice an indi- 
vidual reared to command others. The word of young 
Dionysius was very sensible : his father, reproaching him for 



106 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

a shameful action, said, " Have I given thee such example?" 
"Ah," answered the youth, " thy father was not a king! " 

In truth, were laughter on such a subject permissible, 
nothing would suggest ideas more burlesque than this 
fantastic institution of hereditary kings. Would it not be 
believed, to look at them, that there really exist particular 
lineages possessing certain qualities which enter the blood 
of the embryo prince, and adapt him physically for royalty, 
as a horse for the racecourse ? But then, in this wild sup- 
position, it yet becomes necessary to assure the genuine 
family descent of the heir presumptive. To perpetuate the 
noble race of Andalusian chargers, the circumstances pass 
before witnesses, and similar precautions seem necessary, 
however indecent, to make sure that the trickeries of 
queens shall not supply thrones with bastards, and that the 
kings, like the horses, shall always be thoroughbreds. 

Whether one jests or reasons, there is found in this idea 
of hereditary royalty only folly and shame. What then is 
this office, which may be filled by infants or idiots ? Some 
talent is required to be a simple workman ; to be a king 
there is need to have only the human shape, to be a 
living automaton. We are astonished when reading that 
the Egyptians placed on the throne a flint, and called it 
their king. We smile at the dog Barkouf, sent by an 
Asiatic despot to govern one of his provinces.* But mon- 
archs of this kind are less mischievous and less absurd than 
those before whom whole peoples prostrate themselves. 
The flint and the dog at least imposed on nobody. None 
ascribed to them qualities or characters they did not possess. 
They were not styled ' Father of the People/ — though this 
were hardly more ridiculous than to give that title to a rattle- 
head whom inheritance crowns at eighteen. Better a mute 
than an animate idol. Why, there can hardly be cited an 
instance of a great man having children worthy of him, yet 
you will have the royal function pass from father to son ! 
As well declare that a wise man's son will be wise. A king 

* See the first year of La Feuille Villageoise, No. 42. — Author. [Cf. Mon- 
taigne's Essays, chap. xii. — Editor.] 



1792] ROYALTY. I07 

is an administrator, and an hereditary administrator is as 
absurd as an author by birthright. 

Royalty is thus as contrary to common sense as to com- 
mon right. But it would be a plague even if no more than 
an absurdity ; for a people who can bow down in honor of 
a silly thing is a debased people. Can they be fit for great 
affairs who render equal homage to vice and virtue, and 
yield the same submission to ignorance and wisdom ? Of 
all institutions, none has caused more intellectual degen- 
eracy. This explains the often-remarked abjectness of char- 
acter under monarchies. 

Such is also the effect of this contagious institution that 
it renders equality impossible, and draws in its train the 
presumption and the evils of " Nobility." If you admit 
inheritance of an office, why not that of a distinction ? The 
Nobility's heritage asks only homage, that of the Crown 
commands submission. When a man says to me, ' I am 
born illustrious,' I merely smile ; when he says ' I am born 
your master,' I set my foot on him. 

When the Convention pronounced the abolition of Roy- 
alty none rose for the defence that was expected. On this 
subject a philosopher, who thought discussion should always 
precede enactment, proposed a singular thing ; he desired 
that the Convention should nominate an orator commis- 
sioned to plead before it the cause of Royalty, so that the 
pitiful arguments by which it has in all ages been justified 
might appear in broad daylight. Judges give one accused, 
however certain his guilt, an official defender. In the 
ancient Senate of Venice there existed a public officer whose 
function was to contest all propositions, however incon- 
testable, or however perfect their evidence. For the rest, 
pleaders for Royalty are not rare : let us open them, and see 
what the most specious of royalist reasoners have said. 

1. A king is necessary to preserve a people from the 
tyranny of powerful men. 

Establish the Rights of Man 1 ; enthrone Equality; form a 

1 The reader should bear in mind that this phrase, now used vaguely, had 
for Paine and his political school a special significance ; it implied a funda- 



108 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

good Constitution ; divide well its powers ; let there be no 
privileges, no distinctions of birth, no monopolies ; make 
safe the liberty of industry and of trade, the equal distribu- 
tion of [family] inheritances, publicity of administration, 
freedom of the press : these things all established, you will 
be assured of good laws, and need not fear the powerful 
men. Willingly or unwillingly, all citizens will be under 
the Law. 

2. The Legislature might usurp authority, and a king 
is needed to restrain it. 

With representatives, frequently renewed, who neither 
administer nor judge, whose functions are determined by the 
laws; with national conventions, with primary assemblies, 
which can be convoked any moment ; with a people knowing 
how to read, and how to defend itself; with good journals, 
guns, and pikes ; a Legislature would have a good deal of 
trouble in enjoying any months of tyranny. Let us not 
suppose an evil for the sake of its remedy. 

3. A king is needed to give force to executive power. 

This might be said while there existed nobles, a priest- 
hood, parliaments, the privileged of every kind. But at 
present who can resist the Law, which is the will of all, 
whose execution is the interest of all ? On the contrary the 
existence of an hereditary prince inspires perpetual distrust 
among the friends of liberty; his authority is odious to 
them ; in checking despotism they constantly obstruct the 
action of government. Observe how feeble the executive 
power was found, after our recent pretence of marrying 
Royalty with Liberty. 

Take note, for the rest, that those who talk in this way 
are men who believe that the King and the Executive 
Power are only one and the same thing: readers of La 
Feuille Villageoise are more advanced.* 

mental Declaration of individual rights, of supreme force and authority, in- 
vasion which, either by legislatures, law courts, majorities, or administrators, 
was to be regarded as the worst treason and despotism. — Editor. 
* See No. 50. — Author. 



1792] ROYALTY. IO9 

Others use this bad reasoning : " Were there no hereditary- 
chief there would be an elective chief : the citizens would 
side with this man or that, and there would be a civil war 
at every election/' In the first place, it is certain that 
hereditary succession alone has produced the civil wars of 
France and England ; and that beyond this are the pre- 
tended rights of royal families which have twenty times 
drawn on these nations the scourge of foreign wars. It is, 
in fine, the heredity of crowns that has caused the troubles 
of Regency, which Thomas Paine calls Monarchy at nurse. 

But above all it must be said, that if there be an elective 
chief, that chief will not be a king surrounded by courtiers, 
burdened with pomp, inflated by idolatries, and endowed 
with thirty millions of money ; also, that no citizen will be 
tempted to injure himself by placing another citizen, his 
equal, for some years in an office without limited income 
and circumscribed power. 

In a word, whoever demands a king demands an aristoc- 
racy, and thirty millions of taxes. See why Franklin 
described Royalism as a crime like poisoning. 

Royalty, its fanatical eclat, its superstitious idolatry, the 
delusive assumption of its necessity, all these fictions have 
been invented only to obtain from men excessive taxes and 
voluntary servitude. Royalty and Popery have had the 
same aim, have sustained themselves by the same artifices, 
and crumble under the same Light. 




XII. 



TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, ON THE PROSE- 

CUTION AGAINST THE SECOND PART 

OF RIGHTS OF MAN. 1 

Paris, nth of November, ist Year of the Republic. [1792.] 

Mr. Attorney General : 

Sir, — As there can be no personal resentment between 
two strangers, I write this letter to you, as to a man against 
whom I have no animosity. 

You have, as Attorney General, commenced a prosecution 
against me, as the author of Rights of Man. Had not my 
duty, in consequence of my being elected a member of the 
National Convention of France, called me from England, I 
should have staid to have contested the injustice of that 
prosecution ; not upon my own account, for I cared not 
about the prosecution, but to have defended the principles 
I had advanced in the work. 

The duty I am now engaged in is of too much importance 
to permit me to trouble myself about your prosecution : 
when I have leisure, I shall have no objection to meet you 
on that ground ; but, as I now stand, whether you go on 
with the prosecution, or whether you do not, or whether you 
obtain a verdict, or not, is a matter of the most perfect in- 
difference to me as an individual. If you obtain one, 
(which you are welcome to if you can get it,) it cannot 
affect me either in person, property, or reputation, other- 
wise than to increase the latter ; and with respect to your- 
self, it is as consistent that you obtain a verdict against the 

J Read to the Jury by the Attorney General, Sir Archibald Macdonald, at 
the trial of Paine, December 18, 1792, which resulted in his outlawry. — Editor. 



1792] PROSECUTION OF RIGHTS OF MAN Ill 

Man in the Moon as against me ; neither do I see how you 
can continue the prosecution against me as you would have 
done against one of your own people ', who had absented him- 
self because he was prosecuted ; what passed at Dover proves 
that my departure from England was no secret. V 

My necessary absence from your country affords the op- 
portunity of knowing whether the prosecution was intended 
against Thomas Paine, or against the Right of the People 
of England to investigate systems and principles of govern- 
ment ; for as I cannot now be the object of the prosecution, 
the going on with the prosecution will shew that something 
else was the object, and that something else can be no other 
than the People of England, for it is against their Rights, 
and not against me, that a verdict or sentence can operate, 
if it can operate at all. Be then so candid as to tell the 
Jury, (if you choose to continue the process,) whom it is 
you are prosecuting, and on whom it is that the verdict is 
to fall. 2 

But I have other reasons than those I have mentioned for 
writing you this letter ; and, however you may choose to in- 
terpret them, they proceed from a good heart. The time, 
Sir, is becoming too serious to play with Court prosecutions, 
and sport with national rights. The terrible examples that 
have taken place here, upon men who, less than a year ago, 
thought themselves as secure as any prosecuting Judge, 
Jury, or Attorney General, now can in England, ought 
to have some weight with men in your situation. That the 
government of England is as great, if not the greatest, per- 
fection of fraud and corruption that ever took place since 
governments began, is what you cannot be a stranger to, 
unless the constant habit of seeing it has blinded your 
senses ; but though you may not chuse to see it, the people 
are seeing it very fast, and the progress is beyond what you 

1 See Chapter VIII. of this volume. — Editor. 

2 In reading the letter in court the Attorney General said at this point : 
"Gentlemen, I certainly will comply with this request. I am prosecuting both 
him and his work ; and if I succeed in this prosecution, he shall never return 
to this country otherwise than in vinculis, for I will outlaw him." — Editor. 



112 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

may chuse to believe. Is it possible that you, or I, can be- 
lieve, or that reason can make any other man believe, that 
the capacity of such a man as Mr. Guelph, or any of his 
profligate sons, is necessary to the government of a nation ? 
I speak to you as one man ought to speak to another; and 
I know also that I speak what other people are beginning 
to think. 

That you cannot obtain a verdict (and if you do, it will 
signify nothing) without packing a Jury, (and we both know 
that such tricks are practised,) is what I have very good 
reason to believe, I have gone into coffee-houses, and places 
where I was unknown, on purpose to learn the currency of 
opinion, and I never yet saw any company of twelve men 
that condemned the book ; but I have often found a 
greater number than twelve approving it, and this I think is 
a fair way of collecting the natural currency of opinio?i. Do 
not then, Sir, be the instrument of drawing twelve men into 
a situation that may be injurious to them afterwards. I do 
not speak this from policy, but from benevolence ; but if 
you chuse to go on with the process, I make it my request 
to you that you will read this letter in Court, after which 
the Judge and the Jury may do as they please. As I do 
not consider myself the object of the prosecution, neither 
can I be affected by the issue, one way or the other, I shall, 
though a foreigner in your country, subscribe as much money 
as any other man towards supporting the right of the nation 
against the prosecution ; and it is for this purpose only that 
I shall do it. 1 

Thomas Paine. 

As I have not time to copy letters, you will excuse the 
corrections. 

1 In reading this letter at the trial the Attorney interspersed comments. At 
the phrase, " Mr. Guelph and his profligate sons," he exclaimed : " This pas- 
sage is contemptuous, scandalous, false, cruel. Why, gentlemen, is Mr. Paine, 
in addition to the political doctrines he is teaching us in this country, to teach 
us the morality and religion of implacability ? Is he to teach human crea- 
tures, whose moments of existence depend upon the permission of a Being, 
merciful, long-suffering, and of great goodness, that those youthful errors from 



I79 2 ] PROSECUTION OF RIGHTS OF MAN. 113 

P. S. I intended, had I staid in England, to have pub- 
lished the information, with my remarks upon it, before the 
trial came on ; but as I am otherwise engaged, I reserve my- 
self till the trial is over, when I shall reply fully to every 
thing you shall advance. 

which even royalty is not exempted, are to be treasured up in a vindictive 
memory, and are to receive sentence of irremissible sin at His hands. . . . 
If giving me pain was his object he has that hellish gratification." Erskine, 
Paine's counsel, protested in advance against the reading of this letter (of which 
he had heard), as containing matter likely to divert the Jury from the subject 
of prosecution (the book). Lord Kenyon admitted the letter. — Editor. 
tol in— 8 




XIII. 



ON THE PROPRIETY OF BRINGING LOUIS XVI. 
TO TRIAL. 1 

Read to the Convention, November 21, 1J92. 

Paris, Nov. 20, 1792. 

Citizen President, 

As I do not know precisely what day the Convention will 
resume the discussion on the trial of Louis XVI., and, on 
account of my inability to express myself in French, I can- 
not speak at the tribune, I request permission to deposit in 
your hands the enclosed paper, which contains my opinion 
on that subject. I make this demand with so much more 
eagerness, because circumstances will prove how much it 
imports to France, that Louis XVI. should continue to enjoy 
good health. I should be happy if the Convention would 
have the goodness to hear this paper read this morning, as 
I propose sending a copy of it to London, to be printed in 
the English journals. 2 

Thomas Paine. 

A Secretary read the opinion of Thomas Paine. 
I think it necessary that Louis XVI. should be tried ; not 

1 This address, which has suffered by alterations in all editions is here revised 
and completed by aid of the official document : " Opinion de Thomas Payne, 
Depute du Departement de la Somme [error], concernant le jugement de Louis 
XVI. Precede par sa lettre d'envoi au President de la Convention. Imprime 
par ordre de la Convention Nationale. A Paris. De l'lmprimerie Nationale." 
Lamartine has censured Paine for this speech ; but the trial of the King was a 
foregone conclusion, and it will be noted that Paine was already trying to 
avert popular wrath from the individual man by directing it against the general 
league of monarchs, and the monarchal system. Nor would his plea for the 
King's life have been listened to but for this previous address. — Editor. 

2 Of course no English journal could then venture to print it. — Editor. 



1792] SHOULD LOUIS XVI. BE TRIED? 115 

that this advice is suggested by a spirit of vengeance, but 
because this measure appears to me just, lawful, and con- 
formable to sound policy. If Louis is innocent, let us put 
him to prove his innocence ; if he is guilty, let the national 
will determine whether he shall be pardoned or punished. 

But besides the motives personal to Louis XVI., there 
are others which make his trial necessary. I am about to 
develope these motives, in the language which I think ex- 
presses them, and no other. I forbid myself the use of 
equivocal expression or of mere ceremony. There was 
formed among the crowned brigands of Europe a conspiracy 
which threatened not only French liberty, but likewise that 
of all nations. Every thing tends to the belief that Louis 
XVI. was the partner of this horde of conspirators. You 
have this man in your power, and he is at present the only 
one of the band of whom you can make sure. I consider 
Louis XVI. in the same point of view as the two first rob- 
bers taken up in the affair of the Store Room ; their trial 
led to discovery of the gang to which they belonged. We 
have seen the unhappy soldiers of Austria, of Prussia, and 
the other powers which declared themselves our enemies, 
torn from their fire-sides, and drawn to butchery like wretched 
animals, to sustain, at the cost of their blood, the common 
cause of these crowned brigands. They loaded the inhabi- 
tants of those regions with taxes to support the expenses 
of the war. All this was not done solely for Louis XVI. 
Some of the conspirators have acted openly : but there is 
reason to presume that this conspiracy is composed of two 
classes of brigands ; those who have taken up arms, and 
those who have lent to their cause secret encouragement 
and clandestine assistance. Now it is indispensable to let 
France and the whole world know all these accomplices. 

A little time after the National Convention was con- 
stituted, the Minister for Foreign Affairs presented the 
picture of all the governments of Europe, — those whose 
hostilities were public, and those that acted with a mysteri- 
ous circumspection. This picture supplied grounds for just 
suspicions of the part the latter were disposed to take, and 



Il6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1792 

since then various circumstances have occurred to confirm 
those suspicions. We have already penetrated into some 
part of the conduct of Mr. Guelph, Elector of Hanover, and 
strong presumptions involve the same man, his court and 
ministers, in quality of king of England. M. Calonne has 
constantly been favoured with a friendly reception at that 
court. 1 The arrival of Mr. Smith, secretary to Mr. Pitt, at 
Coblentz, when the emigrants were assembling there ; the 
recall of the English ambassador ; the extravagant joy mani- 
fested by the court of St. James' at the false report of the 
defeat of Dumouriez, when it was communicated by Lord 
Elgin, then Minister of Great Britain at Brussels — all these 
circumstances render him [George III.] extremely suspi- 
cious ; the trial of Louis XVI. will probably furnish more 
decisive proofs. 

The long subsisting fear of a revolution in England, would 
alone, I believe, prevent that court from manifesting as 
much publicity in its operations as Austria and Prussia. 
Another reason could be added to this : the inevitable de- 
crease of credit, by means of which alone all the old govern- 
ments could obtain fresh loans, in proportion as the prob- 
ability of revolutions increased. Whoever invests in the new 
loans of such governments must expect to lose his stock. 

Every body knows that the Landgrave of Hesse fights 
only as far as he is paid. He has been for many years in 
the pay of the court of London. If the trial of Louis XVI. 
could bring it to light, that this detestable dealer in human 
flesh has been paid with the produce of the taxes imposed 
on the English people, it would be justice to that nation to 
disclose that fact. It would at the same time give to France 
an exact knowledge of the character of that court, which 

1 Calonne (1734-1802), made Controller General of the Treasury in 1783, 
lavished the public money on the Queen, on courtiers, and on himself (purchas- 
ing St. Cloud and Rambouillet), borrowing vast sums and deceiving the King 
as to the emptiness of the Treasury, the annual deficit having risen in 1787 to 
115 millions of francs. He was then banished to Lorraine, whence he proceeded 
to England, where he married the wealthy widow Haveley. By his agency for 
the Coblentz party he lost his fortune. In 1802 Napoleon brought him back 
from London to Paris, where he died the same year. — Editor. 



179 2 ] SHOULD LOUIS XVI. BE TRIED? 117 

has not ceased to be the most intriguing in Europe, ever 
since its connexion with Germany. 

Louis XVI., considered as an individual, is an object be- 
neath the notice of the Republic ; but when he is looked 
upon as a part of that band of conspirators, as an accused 
man whose trial may lead all nations in the world to know 
and detest the disastrous system of monarchy, and the plots 
and intrigues of their own courts, he ought to be tried. 

If the crimes for which Louis XVI. is arraigned were ab- 
solutely personal to him, without reference to general con- 
spiracies, and confined to the affairs of France, the plea of 
inviolability, that folly of the moment, might have been 
urged in his behalf with some appearance of reason ; but he 
is arraigned not only for treasons against France, but for 
having conspired against all Europe, and if France is to be 
just to all Europe we ought to use every means in our 
power to discover the whole extent of that conspiracy. 
France is now a republic ; she has completed her revolu- 
tion ; but she cannot earn all its advantages so long as she is 
surrounded with despotic governments. Their armies and 
their marine oblige her also to keep troops and ships in 
readiness. It is therefore her immediate interest that all 
nations shall be as free as herself ; that revolutions shall be 
universal ; and since the trial of Louis XVI. can serve to 
prove to the world the flagitiousness of governments in gen- 
eral, and the necessity of revolutions, she ought not to let 
slip so precious an opportunity. 

The despots of Europe have formed alliances to preserve 
their respective authority, and to perpetuate the oppression 
of peoples. This is the end they proposed to themselves in 
their invasion of French territory. They dread the effect of 
the French revolution in the bosom of their own countries ; 
and in hopes of preventing it, they are come to attempt the 
destruction of this revolution before it should attain its per- 
fect maturity. Their attempt has not been attended with 
success. France has already vanquished their armies ; but 
it remains for her to sound the particulars of the conspiracy, 
to discover, to expose to the eyes of the world, those despots 



n8 



THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. 



[1792 



who had the infamy to take part in it ; and the world ex- 
pects from her that act of justice. 

These are my motives for demanding that Louis XVI. be 
judged ; and it is in this sole point of view that his trial ap- 
pears to me of sufficient importance to receive the attention 
of the Republic. 

As to " inviolability," I would not have such a word men- 
tioned. If, seeing in Louis XVI. only a weak and narrow- 
minded man, badly reared, like all his kind, given, as it is 
said, to frequent excesses of drunkenness — a man whom the 
National Assembly imprudently raised again on a throne 
for which he was not made — he is shown hereafter some com- 
passion, it shall be the result of the national magnanimity, 
and not the burlesque notion of a pretended " inviolability." 

Thomas Paine. 




XIV. 



REASONS FOR PRESERVING THE LIFE OF 
LOUIS CAPET, 

As Delivered to the National Convention, January 15, IJ9Z* 

Citizen President, 

My hatred and abhorrence of monarchy are sufficiently 
known : they originate in principles of reason and conviction, 
nor, except with life, can they ever be extirpated ; but my 
compassion for the unfortunate, whether friend or enemy, 
is equally lively and sincere. 

I voted that Louis should be tried, because it was neces- 
sary to afford proofs to the world of the perfidy, corruption, 
and abomination of the monarchical system. The infinity 
of evidence that has been produced exposes them in the 
most glaring and hideous colours ; thence it results that 
monarchy, whatever form it may assume, arbitrary or other- 
wise, becomes necessarily a centre round which are united 
every species of corruption, and the kingly trade is no less 
destructive of all morality in the human breast, than the 
trade of an executioner is destructive of its sensibility. I 
remember, during my residence in another country, that I 

1 Printed in Paris (Hartley, Adlard & Son) and published in London with the 
addition of D. I, Eaton's name, in 1796. While Paine was in prison, he was 
accused in England and America of having helped to bring Louis XVI. to the 
scaffold. The English pamphlet has a brief preface in which it is presented " as 
a burnt offering to Truth, in behalf of the most zealous friend and advocate of the 
Rights of Man ; to protect him against the barbarous shafts of scandal and de- 
lusion, and as a reply to all the horrors which despots of every description have, 
with such unrelenting malice, attempted to fix on his conduct, But truth in 
the end must triumph : cease then such calumnies : all your efforts are in vain 
— you bite a file." — Editor. 



120 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1793 

was exceedingly struck with a sentence of M. Autheine, at 
the Jacobins [Club], which corresponds exactly with my own 
idea, — " Make me a king to-day," said he, " and I shall be a 
robber to-morrow." 

Nevertheless, I am inclined to believe that if Louis Capet 
had been born in obscure condition, had he lived within the 
circle of an amiable and respectable neighbourhood, at liberty 
to practice the duties of domestic life, had he been thus situ- 
ated, I cannot believe that he would have shewn himself 
destitute of social virtues : we are, in a moment of fermen- 
tation like this, naturally little indulgent to his vices, or 
rather to those of his government ; we regard them with 
additional horror and indignation ; not that they are more 
heinous than those of his predecessors, but because our eyes 
are now open, and the veil of delusion at length with- 
drawn ; yet the lamentable, degraded state to which he is 
actually reduced, is surely far less imputable to him than to 
the Constituent Assembly, which, of its own authority, with- 
out consent or advice of the people, restored him to the 
throne. 

I was in Paris at the time of the flight, or abdication of 
Louis XVI., and when he was taken and brought back. 
The proposal of restoring him to supreme power struck me 
with amazement ; and although at that time I was not a 
French citizen, yet as a citizen of the world I employed all 
the efforts that depended on me to prevent it. 

A small society, composed only of five persons, two of whom 
are now members of the Convention, 1 took at that time the 
name of the Republican Club (Soci£t£ R£publicaine). This 
society opposed the restoration of Louis, not so much on 
account of his personal offences, as in order to overthrow 
the monarchy, and to erect on its ruins the republican system 
and an equal representation. 

With this design, I traced out in the English language cer- 
tain propositions, which were translated with some trifling 

1 Condorect and Paine ; the other members were Achille Duchatelet, and 
probably Nicolas de Bonneville and Lanthenas, — translator of Paine's " Works." 
—Editor. 



1793] PLEA FOR THE LIFE OF LOUIS CAPET. 121 

alterations, and signed by Achille Duchatelet, now Lieu- 
tenant-General in the army of the French republic, and at 
that time one of the five members which composed our little 
party : the law requiring the signature of a citizen at the 
bottom of each printed paper. 

The paper was indignantly torn by Malouet ; and brought 
forth in this very room as an article of accusation against the 
person who had signed it, the author and their adherents ; 
but such is the revolution of events, that this paper is now 
received and brought forth for a very opposite purpose — to 
remind the nation of the errors of that unfortunate day, 
that fatal error of not having then banished Louis XVI. 
from its bosom, and to plead this day in favour of his exile, 
preferable to his death. 

The paper in question, was conceived in the following 
terms : 

{The address constitutes the first chapter of the present 
volume '.] 

Having thus explained the principles and the exertions of 
the republicans at that fatal period, when Louis was rein- 
stated in full possession of the executive power which by his 
flight had been suspended, I return to the subject, and to 
the deplorable situation in which the man is now actually 
involved. 

What was neglected at the time of which I have been 
speaking, has been since brought about by the force of ne- 
cessity. The wilful, treacherous defects in the former con- 
stitution have been brought to light ; the continual alarm 
of treason and conspiracy aroused the nation, and produced 
eventually a second revolution. The people have beat 
down royalty, never, never to rise again ; they have brought 
Louis Capet to the bar, and demonstrated in the face of the 
whole world, the intrigues, the cabals, the falsehood, corrup- 
tion, and rooted depravity, the inevitable effects of monar- 
chical government. There remains then only one question 
to be considered, what is to be done with this man ? 

For myself I seriously confess, that when I reflect on the 
unaccountable folly that restored the executive power to his 



122 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1793 

hands, all covered as he was with perjuries and treason, I 
am far more ready to condemn the Constituent Assembly 
than the unfortunate prisoner Louis Capet. 

But abstracted from every other consideration, there is 
one circumstance in his life which ought to cover or at least 
to palliate a great number of his transgressions, and this 
very circumstance affords to the French nation a blessed 
occasion of extricating itself from the yoke of kings, without 
defiling itself in the impurities of their blood. 

It is to France alone, I know, that the United States of 
America owe that support which enabled them to shake off 
the unjust and tyrannical yoke of Britain. The ardour and 
zeal which she displayed to provide both men and money, 
were the natural consequence of a thirst for liberty. But 
as the nation at that time, restrained by the shackles of her 
own government, could only act by the means of a monar- 
chical organ, this organ — whatever in other respects the ob- 
ject might be — certainly performed a good, a great action. 

Let then those United States be the safeguard and asylum 
of Louis Capet. There, hereafter, far removed from the 
miseries and crimes of royalty, he may learn, from the con- 
stant aspect of public prosperity, that the true system of 
government consists not in kings, but in fair, equal, and 
honourable representation. 

In relating this circumstance, and in submitting this 
proposition, I consider myself as a citizen of both countries. 
I submit it as a citizen of America, who feels the debt of 
gratitude which he owes to every Frenchman. I submit it 
also as a man, who, although the enemy of kings, cannot for- 
get that they are subject to human frailties. I support my 
proposition as a citizen of the French republic, because it 
appears to me the best, the most politic measure that can 
be adopted. 

As far as my experience in public life extends, I have ever 
observed, that the great mass of the people are invariably 
just, both in their intentions and in their objects ; but the 
true method of accomplishing an effect does not always shew 
itself in the first instance. For example : the English nation 



1793] PLEA FOR THE LIFE OF LOUIS CAPET. 12$ 

had groaned under the despotism of the Stuarts. Hence 
Charles I. lost his life; yet Charles II. was restored to ail 
the plenitude of power, which his father had lost. Forty 
years had not expired when the same family strove to re- 
establish their ancient oppression ; so the nation then ban- 
ished from its territories the whole race. The remedy was 
effectual. The Stuart family sank into obscurity, confounded 
itself with the multitude, and is at length extinct. 

The French nation has carried her measures of government 
to a greater length. France is not satisfied with exposing 
the guilt of the monarch. She has penetrated into the vices 
and horrors of the monarchy. She has shown them clear as 
daylight, and forever crushed that system ; and he, whoever 
he may be, that should ever dare to reclaim those rights 
would be regarded not as a pretender, but punished as a 
traitor. 

Two brothers of Louis Capet have banished themselves 
from the country ; but they are obliged to comply with the 
spirit and etiquette of the courts where they reside. They 
can advance no pretensions on their own account, so long as 
Louis Capet shall live. 

Monarchy, in France, was a system pregnant with crime 
and murders, cancelling all natural ties, even those by which 
brothers are united. We know how often they have assassi- 
nated each other to pave a way to power. As those hopes 
which the emigrants had reposed in Louis XVI. are fled, the 
last that remains rests upon his death, and their situation in- 
clines them to desire this catastrophe, that they may once 
again rally around a more active chief, and try one further 
effort under the fortune of the ci-devant Monsieur and 
d'Artois. That such an enterprize would precipitate them 
into a new abyss of calamity and disgrace, it is not difficult 
to foresee ; yet it might be attended with mutual loss, and it 
is our duty as legislators not to spill a drop of blood when 
our purpose may be effectually accomplished without it. 

It has already been proposed to abolish the punishment of 
death, and it is with infinite satisfaction that I recollect the 
humane and excellent oration pronounced by Robespierre 



124 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1793 

on that subject in the Constituent Assembly. This cause 
must find its advocates in every corner where enlightened 
politicians and lovers of humanity exist, and it ought above 
all to find them in this assembly. 

Monarchical governments have trained the human race, and 
inured it to the sanguinary arts and refinements of punish- 
ment ; and it is exactly the same punishment which has so 
long shocked the sight and tormented the patience of the 
people, that now, in their turn, they practice in revenge upon 
their oppressors. But it becomes us to be strictly on our 
guard against the abomination and perversity of monarchical 
examples : as France has been the first of European nations 
to abolish royalty, let her also be the first to abolish the pun- 
ishment of death, and to find out a milder and more effectual 
substitute. 

In the particular case now under consideration, I submit 
the following propositions : 1st, That the National Conven- 
tion shall pronounce sentence of banishment on Louis and 
his family. 2d, That Louis Capet shall be detained in prison 
till the end of the war, and at that epoch the sentence of 
banishment to be executed. 




XV. 
SHALL LOUIS XVI. HAVE RESPITE? 

SPEECH IN THE CONVENTION, JANUARY 1 9, 1793. 1 
(Read in French by Deputy BancaL) 

VERY sincerely do I regret the Convention's vote of yes- 
terday for death. 

Marat [interrupting] : I submit that Thomas Paine is 
incompetent to vote on this question ; being a Quaker his 
religious principles are opposed to capital punishment. 
[Much confusion, quieted by cries for u freedom of speech" on 
which Bancal proceeds with Paine 's speech.} 

I have the advantage of some experience ; it is near twenty 
years that I have been engaged in the cause of liberty, having 
contributed something to it in the revolution of the United 
States of America, My language has always been that of 
liberty and humanity, and I know that nothing so exalts a 
nation as the union of these two principles, under all circum- 
stances. I know that the public mind of France, and par- 
ticularly that of Paris, has been heated and irritated by the 
dangers to which they have been exposed ; but could we 
carry our thoughts into the future, when the dangers are 
ended and the irritations forgotten, what to-day seems an act 
of justice may then appear an act of vengeance. {Murmur s.] 
My anxiety for the cause of France has become for the mo- 
ment concern for her honor. If, on my return to America, I 
should employ myself on a history of the French Revolution, 
I had rather record a thousand errors on the side of mercy, 

1 Not included in any previous edition of Paine's "Works." It is here printed 
from contemporary French reports, modified only by Paine's own quotations of 
a few sentences in his Memorial to Monroe (xxi.). — Editor. 



126 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i793 



than be obliged to tell one act of severe justice. I voted 
against an appeal to the people, because it appeared to me 
that the Convention was needlessly wearied on that point ; 
but I so voted in the hope that this Assembly would pro- 
nounce against death, and for the same punishment that the 
nation would have voted, at least in my opinion, that is for 
reclusion during the war, and banishment thereafter. 1 That 
is the punishment most efficacious, because it includes the 
whole family at once, and none other can so operate. I am 
still against the appeal to the primary assemblies, because 
there is a better method. This Convention has been elected 
to form a Constitution, which will be submitted to the pri- 
mary assemblies. After its acceptance a necessary conse- 
quence will be an election and another assembly. We 
cannot suppose that the present Convention will last more 
than five or six months. The choice of new deputies will 
express the national opinion, on the propriety or impropriety 
of your sentence, with, as much efficacy as if those primary 
assemblies had been consulted on it. As the duration of 
our functions here cannot be long, it is a part of our duty to 
consider the interests of those who shall replace us. If by 
any act of ours the number of the nation's enemies shall be 
needlessly increased, and that of its friends diminished, — at 
a time when the finances may be more strained than to-day, 
— we should not be justifiable for having thus unnecessarily 
heaped obstacles in the path of our successors. Let us 
therefore not be precipitate in our decisions. 

1 It is possible that the course of the debate may have produced some reaction 
among the people, but when Paine voted against submitting the king's fate to 
the popular vote it was believed by the king and his friends that it would be 
fatal. The American Minister, Gouverneur Morris, who had long been acting 
for the king, wrote to President Washington, Jan. 6, 1793 : " The king's fate 
is to be decided next Monday, the 14th. That unhappy man, conversing with 
one of his Council on his own fate, calmly summed up the motives of every 
kind, and concluded that a majority of the Council would vote for referring his 
case to the people, and that in consequence he should be massacred." Writing 
to Washington on Dec. 28, 1792, Morris mentions having heard from Paine that 
he was to move the king's banishment to America, and he may then have in- 
formed Paine that the king believed reference of his case to popular vote would 
be fatal. Genet was to have conducted the royal family to America. — Editor. 



1793] PLEA FOR RESPITE OF LOUIS CAPET. \2J 

France has but one ally — the United States of America. 
That is the only nation that can furnish France with naval 
provisions, for the kingdoms of northern Europe are, or soon 
will be, at war with her. It unfortunately happens that the 
person now under discussion is considered by the Americans 
as having been the friend of their revolution. His execution 
will be an affliction to them, and it is in your power not to 
wound the feelings of your ally. Could I speak the French 
language I would descend to your bar, and in their name 
become your petitioner to respite the execution of the sen- 
tence on Louis. 

Thuriot : This is not the language of Thomas Paine. 

Marat : I denounce the interpreter. I maintain that it 
is not Thomas Paine's opinion. It is an untrue translation. 

Garran : I have read the original, and the translation is 
correct. 1 

\_Pro longed uproar. Paine, still standing in the tribune 
beside his interpreter, Deputy Bancal, declared the sentiments 
to be his.~\ 

Your Executive Committee will nominate an ambassador 
to Philadelphia ; my sincere wish is that he may announce 
to America that the National Convention of France, out of 
pure friendship to America, has consented to respite Louis. 
That people, by my vote, ask you to delay the execution. 

Ah, citizens, give not the tyrant of England the triumph 
of seeing the man perish on the scaffold who had aided my 
much-loved America to break his chains ! 

Marat [" launching himself into the middle of the hall "] : 
Paine voted against the punishment of death because he is a 
Quaker. 

Paine : I voted against it from both moral motives and 
motives of public policy. 

1 See Guizot, " Hist, of France," vi., p. 136. " Hist. Parliamentaire," xxiii., 
p. 250. Louis Blanc says that Paine's appeal was so effective that Marat inter- 
rupted mainly in order to destroy its effect. — " Hist, de la Rev.," tome vii., 396. 
— Editor. 



XVI. 
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. 1 

The object of all union of men in society being mainte- 
nance of their natural rights, civil and political, these rights 
are the basis of the social pact : their recognition and their 
declaration ought to precede the Constitution which assures 
their guarantee. 

i. The natural rights of men, civil and political, are liberty, 
equality, security, property, social protection, and resistance 
to oppression. 

2. Liberty consists in the right to do whatever is not con- 
trary to the rights of others : thus, exercise of the natural 

1 In his appeal from prison to the Convention (August 7, 1794) Paine states 
that he had, as a member of the Committee for framing the Constitution, 
prepared a Plan, which was in the hands of Barere, also of that Committee. I 
have not yet succeeded in finding Paine's Constitution, but it is certain that the 
work of framing the Constitution of 1793 was mainly entrusted to Paine and Con- 
dorcet. Dr. John Moore, in his work on the French Revolution, describes the 
two at their work ; and it is asserted that he " assisted in drawing up the French 
Declaration of Rights," by " Juvencus," author of an able " Essay on the Life 
and Genius of Thomas Paine," whose information came from a personal friend of 
Paine. ("Aphorisms, Opinions, and Reflections of Thomas Paine," etc., London, 
1826. Pp. 3, 14.) A translation of the Declaration and Constitution appeared 
in England (Debrett, Picadilly, 1793), but with some faults. The present trans- 
lation is from " GEuvres Completes de Condorcet," tome xviii. The Committee 
reported their Constitution February 15th, and April 15th was set for its discus- 
sion. Robespierre then demanded separate discussion of the Declaration of 
Rights, to which he objected that it made no mention of the Supreme Being, 
and that its extreme principles of freedom would shield illicit traffic. Paine and 
Jefferson were troubled that the United States Constitution contained no Decla- 
ration of Rights, it being a fundamental principle in Paine's theory of govern- 
ment that such a Declaration was the main safeguard of the individual against 
the despotism of numbers. See supra, vol. ii., pp. 138, 139. — Editor. 



1793] DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. 1 29 

rights of each individual has no limits other than those which 
secure to other members of society enjoyment of the same 
rights. 

3. The preservation of liberty depends on submission to 
the Law, which is the expression of the general will. Nothing 
unforbidden by law can be hindered, and none may be forced 
to do what the law does not command. 

4. Every man is free to make known his thoughts and 
opinions. 

5. Freedom of the press, and every other means of pub- 
lishing one's opinion, cannot be interdicted, suspended, or 
limited. 

6. Every citizen shall be free in the exercise of his re- 
ligion (culte). 

7. Equality consists in the enjoyment by every one of the 
same rights. 

8. The law should be equal for all, whether it rewards or 
punishes, protects or represses. 

9. All citizens are admissible to all public positions, em- 
ployments, and functions. Free nations recognize no 
grounds of preference save talents and virtues. 

10. Security consists in the protection accorded by society 
to every citizen for the preservation of his person, property, 
and rights. 

11. None should be sued, accused, arrested, or detained, 
save in cases determined by the law, and in accordance with 
forms prescribed by it. Every other act against a citizen is 
arbitrary and null. 

12. Those who solicit, further, sign, execute, or cause to 
be executed, such arbitrary acts are culpable, and should be 
punished. 

13. Citizens against whom the execution of such acts is 
attempted have the right to repel force by force ; but every 
citizen summoned or arrested by authority of the Law, and 
in the forms by it prescribed, should instantly obey : he ren- 
ders himself guilty by resistance. 

14. Every man being presumed innocent until legally pro- 
nounced guilty, should his arrest be deemed indispensable, 

VOL III — 9 



130 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1793 

all rigor not necessary to secure his person should be severely 
represssed by law. 

15. None should be punished save in virtue of a law 
formally enacted, promulgated anterior to the offence, and 
legally applied. 

16. Any law that should punish offences committed before 
its existence would be an arbitrary act. Retroactive effect 
given to the law is a crime. 

17. The law should award only penalties strictly and evi- 
dently necessary to the general safety. Penalties should be 
proportioned to offences, and useful to society. 

18. The right of property consists in every man's being 
master in the disposal, at his will, of his goods, capital, in- 
come, and industry. 

19. No kind of labor, commerce, or culture, can be pro- 
hibited to any one : he may make, sell, and transport every 
species of production. 

20. Every man may engage his services and his time ; but 
he cannot sell himself ; his person is not an alienable 
property. 

21. No one can be deprived of the least portion of his 
property without his consent, unless evidently required by 
public necessity, legally determined, and under the condition 
of a just indemnity in advance. 

22. No tax shall be imposed except for the general wel- 
fare, and to meet public needs. All citizens have the right 
to unite personally, or by their representatives, in the fixing 
of imposts. 

23. Instruction is the need of all, and society owes it to 
all its members equally. 

24. Public succours are a sacred debt of society ; it is for 
the law to determine their extent and application. 

25. The social guarantee of the rights of man rests on the 
national sovereignty. 

26. This sovereignty is one, indivisible, imprescriptible, 
and inalienable. 

27. It resides essentially in the whole people, and every 
citizen has an equal right to unite in its exercise. 



1 7 93] DECLARA TION OF RIGHTS. 1 3 1 

28. No partial assemblage of citizens, and no individual, 
may attribute to themselves sovereignty, or exercise any au- 
thority, or discharge any public function, without formal 
delegation thereto by the law. 

29. The social guarantee cannot exist if the limits of pub- 
lic administration are not clearly determined by law, and if 
the responsibility of all public functionaries is not assured. 

30. All citizens are bound to unite in this guarantee, and 
in enforcing the law when summoned in its name. 

31. Men united in society should have legal means of re- 
sisting oppression. 

32. There is oppression when any law violates the natural 
rights, civil and political, which it should guarantee. 

There is oppression when the law is violated by public 
officials in its application to individual cases. 

There is oppression when arbitrary actions violate the 
rights of citizen against the express purpose (expression) of 
the law. 

In a free government the mode of resisting these different 
acts of oppression should be regulated by the Constitution. 

33. A people possesses always the right to reform and 
alter its Constitution. A generation has no right to subject 
a future generation to its laws ; and all heredity in offices is 
absurd and tyrannical. 




XVII. 
PRIVATE LETTERS TO JEFFERSON. 

Paris, 20 April, 1793. 

My dear Friend, — The gentleman (Dr. Romer) to 
whom I entrust this letter is an intimate acquaintance of 
Lavater ; but I have not had the opportunity of seeing him, 
as he had set off for Havre prior to my writing this letter, 
which I forward to him under cover from one of his friends, 
who is also an acquaintance of mine. 

We are now in an extraordinary crisis, and it is not al- 
together without some considerable faults here. Dumouriez, 
partly from having no fixed principles of his own, and partly 
from the continual persecution of the Jacobins, who act 
without either prudence or morality, has gone off to the 
Enemy, and taken a considerable part of the Army with 
him. The expedition to Holland has totally failed, and all 
Brabant is again in the hands of the Austrians. 

You may suppose the consternation which such a sudden 
reverse of fortune has occasioned, but it has been without 
commotion. Dumouriez threatened to be in Paris in three 
weeks. It is now three weeks ago ; he is still on the frontier 
near to Mons with the Enemy, who do not make any pro- 
gress. Dumouriez has proposed to re-establish the former 
Constitution in which plan the Austrians act with him. But 
if France and the National Convention act prudently this 
project will not succeed. In the first place there is a popu- 
lar disposition against it, and there is force sufficient to pre- 
vent it. In the next place, a great deal is to be taken into 
the calculation with respect to the Enemy. There are now 
so many persons accidentally jumbled together as to render 



1793] PRIVATE LETTERS TO JEFFERSON. 1 33 

it exceedingly difficult to them to agree upon any common 
object. 

The first object, that of restoring the old Monarchy, is 
evidently given up by the proposal to re-establish the late 
Constitution. The object of England and Prussia was to 
preserve Holland, and the object of Austria was to recover 
Brabant ; while those separate objects lasted, each party 
having one, the Confederation could hold together, each 
helping the other ; but after this I see not how a common 
object is to be formed. To all this is to be added the prob- 
able disputes about opportunity, the expence, and the pro- 
jects of reimbursements. The Enemy has once adventured 
into France, and they had the permission or the good for- 
tune to get back again. On every military calculation it is 
a hazardous adventure, and armies are not much disposed to 
try a second time the ground upon which they have been 
defeated. 

Had this revolution been conducted consistently with 
its principles, there was once a good prospect of extending 
liberty through the greatest part of Europe ; but I now re- 
linquish that hope. Should the Enemy by venturing into 
France put themselves again in a condition of being cap- 
tured, the hope will revive ; but this is a risk I do not wish 
to see tried, lest it should fail. 

As the prospect of a general freedom is now much short- 
ened, I begin to contemplate returning home. I shall await 
the event of the proposed Constitution, and then take my 
final leave of Europe. I have not written to the President, 
as I have nothing to communicate more than in this letter. 
Please to present him my affection and compliments, and re- 
member me among the circle of my friends. 

Your sincere and affectionate friend, 

Thomas Paine. 

P. S. I just now received a letter from General Lewis 
Morris, who tells me that the house and Barn on my farm 
at New Rochelle are burnt down. I assure you I shall not 
bring money enough to build another. 



134 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l793 



Paris, 20 Oct., 1793. 

I wrote you by Captain Dominick who was to sail from 
Havre about the 20th of this month. This will probably be 
brought you by Mr. Barlow or Col. Oswald. Since my letter 
by Dominick I am every day more convinced and impressed 
with the propriety of Congress sending Commissioners to 
Europe to confer with the Ministers of the Jesuitical Powers 
on the means of terminating the War. The enclosed printed 
paper will shew there are a variety of subjects to be taken 
into consideration which did not appear at first, all of which 
have some tendency to put an end to the War. I see not 
how this War is to terminate if some intermediate power 
does not step forward. There is now no prospect that 
France can carry revolutions into Europe on the one hand, 
or that the combined powers can conquer France on the 
other hand. It is a sort of defensive War on both sides. 
This being the case, how is the War to close ? Neither side 
will ask for peace though each may wish it. I believe that 
England and Holland are tired of the War. Their Com- 
merce and Manufactures have suffered most exceedingly, — 
besides this, it is for them a War without an object. Russia 
keeps herself at a distance. 

I cannot help repeating my wish that Congress would send 
Commissioners, and I wish also that yourself would venture 
once more across the ocean, as one of them. If the Com- 
missioners rendezvous at Holland they would know what 
steps to take. They could call Mr. Pinckney [Gen. Thomas 
Pinckney, American Minister in England] to their councils, 
and it would be of use, on many accounts, that one of them 
should come over from Holland to France. Perhaps a long 
truce, were it proposed by the neutral powers, would have 
all the effects of a Peace, without the difficulties attending 
the adjustment of all the forms of Peace. 

Yours affectionately, 

Thomas Paine. 



XVIII. 
LETTER TO DANTON. 1 

Paris, May 6, 2nd year of the Republic. [1793.] 

ClTOYEN DANTON: As you read English, I write this 
letter to you without passing it through the hands of a 
translator. I am exceedingly disturbed at the distractions, 
jealousies, discontents and uneasiness that reign among us, 
and which, if they continue, will bring ruin and disgrace on 
the Republic. When I left America in the year 1787, it 
was my intention to return the year following, but the 
French Revolution, and the prospect it afforded of extend- 
ing the principles of liberty and fraternity through the 
greater part of Europe, have induced me to prolong my 
stay upwards of six years. I now despair of seeing the 
great object of European liberty accomplished, and my 
despair arises not from the combined foreign powers, not 
from the intrigues of aristocracy and priestcraft, but from 
the tumultuous misconduct with which the internal affairs 
of the present revolution are conducted. 

All that now can be hoped for is limited to France only, 
and I agree with your motion of not interfering in the gov- 

1 This admirable letter was brought to light by the late M. Taine, and first 
published in full by Taine's translator, John Durand (" New Materials for the 
History of the American Revolution," 1889). The letter to Marat mentioned 
by Paine has not been discovered. Danton followed Paine to prison, and on 
meeting him there said : " That which you did for the happiness and liberty of 
your country I tried to do for mine. I have been less fortunate, but not less 
innocent. They will send me to the scaffold ; very well, my friend, I will go 
gaily." M. Taine in La Revolution (vol. ii., pp. 382. 413, 414) refers to this 
letter of Paine, and says : " Compared with the speeches and writings of the 
time, it produces the strangest effect by its practical good sense." — Editor. 



I36 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1793 

ernment of any foreign country, nor permitting any foreign 
country to interfere in the government of France. This 
decree was necessary as a preliminary toward terminating 
the war. But while these internal contentions continue, 
while the hope remains to the enemy of seeing the Republic 
fall to pieces, while not only the representatives of the de- 
partments but representation itself is publicly insulted, as 
it has lately been and now is by the people of Paris, or at 
least by the tribunes, the enemy will be encouraged to hang 
about the frontiers and await the issue of circumstances. 

I observe that the confederated powers have not yet rec- 
ognized Monsieur, or D'Artois, as regent, nor made any 
proclamation in favour of any of the Bourbons ; but this 
negative conduct admits of two different conclusions. The 
one is that of abandoning the Bourbons and the war to- 
gether ; the other is that of changing the object of the war 
and substituting a partition scheme in the place of their 
first object, as they have done by Poland. If this should be 
their object, the internal contentions that now rage will 
favour that object far more than it favoured their former 
object. The danger every day increases of a rupture be- 
tween Paris and the departments. The departments did 
not send their deputies to Paris to be insulted, and every 
insult shown to them is an insult to the departments that 
elected and sent them. I see but one effectual plan to pre- 
vent this rupture taking place, and that is to fix the resi- 
dence of the Convention, and of the future assemblies, at a 
distance from Paris. 

I saw, during the American Revolution, the exceeding 
inconvenience that arose by having the government of Con- 
gress within the limits of any Municipal Jurisdiction. Con- 
gress first resided in Philadelphia, and after a residence of 
four years it found it necessary to leave it. It then ad- 
journed to the State of Jersey. It afterwards removed to 
New York ; it again removed from New York to Philadel- 
phia, and after experiencing in every one of these places 
the great inconvenience of a government, it formed the 
project of building a Town, not within the limits of any 



I793J LETTER TO D ANTON. 1 37 

municipal jurisdiction, for the future residence of Congress. 
In any one of the places where Congress resided, the mu- 
nicipal authority privately or openly opposed itself to the 
authority of Congress, and the people of each of these 
places expected more attention from Congress than their 
equal share with the other States amounted to. The same 
thing now takes place in France, but in a far greater excess. 

I see also another embarrassing circumstance arising in 
Paris of which we have had full experience in America. I 
mean that of fixing the price of provisions. But if this 
measure is to be attempted it ought to be done by the 
Municipality. The Convention has nothing to do with 
regulations of this kind; neither can they be carried into 
practice. The people of Paris may say they will not give 
more than a certain price for provisions, but as they cannot 
compel the country people to bring provisions to market 
the consequence will be directly contrary to their expecta- 
tions, and they will find dearness and famine instead of 
plenty and cheapness. They may force the price down 
upon the stock in hand, but after that the market will be 
empty. 

I will give you an example. In Philadelphia we under- 
took, among other regulations of this kind, to regulate the 
price of Salt ; the consequence was that no Salt was brought 
to market, and the price rose to thirty-six shillings sterling 
per Bushel. The price before the war was only one shilling 
and sixpence per Bushel ; and we regulated the price of 
flour (farina) till there was none in the market, and the 
people were glad to procure it at any price. 

There is also a circumstance to be taken into the ac- 
count which is not much attended to. The assignats are 
not of the same value they were a year ago, and as the 
quantity increases the value of them will diminish. This 
gives the appearance of things being dear when they are not 
so in fact, for in the same proportion that any kind of money 
falls in value articles rise in price. If it were not for this the 
quantity of assignats would be too great to be circulated. 
Paper money in America fell so much in value from this ex- 



138 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i793 

cessive quantity of it, that in the year 1781 I gave three 
hundred paper dollars for one pair of worsted stockings. 
What I write you upon this subject is experience, and not 
merely opinion. I have no personal interest in any of these 
matters, nor in any party disputes. I attend only to general 
principles. 

As soon as a constitution shall be established I shall return 
to America ; and be the future prosperity of France ever so 
great, I shall enjoy no other part of it than the happiness of 
knowing it. In the mean time I am distressed to see matters 
so badly conducted, and so little attention paid to moral 
principles. It is these things that injure the character of the 
Revolution and discourage the progress of liberty all over 
the world. When I began this letter I did not intend 
making it so lengthy, but since I have gone thus far I will 
fill up the remainder of the sheet with such matters as occur 
to me. 

There ought to be some regulation with respect to the 
spirit of denunciation that now prevails. If every individual 
is to indulge his private malignancy or his private ambition, to 
denounce at random and without any kind of proof, all confi- 
dence will be undermined and all authority be destroyed. 
Calumny is a species of Treachery that ought to be punished 
as well as any other kind of Treachery. It is a private vice pro- 
ductive of public evils ; because it is possible to irritate men 
into disaffection by continual calumny who never intended to 
be disaffected. It is therefore, equally as necessary to guard 
against the evils of unfounded or malignant suspicion as 
against the evils of blind confidence. It is equally as neces- 
sary to protect the characters of public officers from calumny 
as it is to punish them for treachery or misconduct. For my 
own part I shall hold it a matter of doubt, until better evi- 
dence arises than is known at present, whether Dumouriez 
has been a traitor from policy or resentment. There was 
certainly a time when he acted well, but it is not every man 
whose mind is strong enough to bear up against ingratitude, 
and I think he experienced a great deal of this before he re- 
volted. Calumny becomes harmless and defeats itself, when 



1793] LETTER TO DAN TON. 1 39 

it attempts to act upon too large a scale. Thus the denun- 
ciation of the Sections [of Paris] against the twenty-two 
deputies [Girondists] falls to the ground. The departments 
that elected them are better judges of their moral and politi- 
cal characters than those who have denounced them. This 
denunciation will injure Paris in the opinion of the depart- 
ments because it has the appearance of dictating to them 
what sort of deputies they shall elect. Most of the acquaint- 
ances that I have in the Convention are among those who 
are in that list, and I know there are not better men nor 
better patriots than what they are. 

I have written a letter to Marat of the same date as this 
but not on the same subject. He may show it to you if he 
chuse. 

Votre Ami, 

Thomas Paine. 

ClTOYEN DANTON. 




XIX. 



A CITIZEN OF AMERICA TO THE CITIZENS OF 

EUROPE. 1 

1 8th Year of Independence. 

Understanding that a proposal is intended to be made 
at the ensuing meeting of the Congress of the United States 
of America " to send commissioners to Europe to confer with 

1 State Archives, Paris : Etats Unis, vol. 38, fol. 90. This pamphlet is in 
English, without indication of authorship or of the place of publication. It is 
accompanied by a French translation (MS.) inscribed "Par Thomas Payne." 
In the printed pamphlet the date (18th Year, etc.) is preceded by the French 
words (printed) : " Philadelphie 28 Juillet 1793." It was no doubt the pamphlet 
sent by Paine to Monroe, with various documents relating to his imprisonment, 
describing it as "a Letter which I had printed here as an American letter, some 
copies of which I sent to Mr. Jefferson." A considerable portion of the pamphlet 
embodies, with occasional changes of phraseology, a manuscript (Etats Unis, 
vol. 37, Do. 39) endorsed: "January 1793. Thom. Payne. Copie. Observa- 
tions on the situation of the Powers joined against France." This opens 
with the following paragraph : " It is always useful to know the position and 
the designs of one's enemies. It is much easier to do so by combining and 
comparing the events, and by examining the consequences which result from 
them, than by forming one's judgment by letters found or intercepted. These 
letters could be fabricated with the intention of deceiving, but events or circum- 
stances have a character which is proper to them. If in the course of our 
political operations we mistake the designs of our enemy, it leads us to do 
precisely that which he desires we should do, and it happens by the fact, but 
against our intentions, that we work for him." That the date written on this 
MS. is erroneous appears by an allusion to the defeat of the Duke of York at 
Dunkirk in the closing paragraph : " There are three distinct parties in England 
at this moment : the government party, the revolutionary party, and an inter- 
medial party, — which is only opposed to the war on account of the expense it 
entails, and the harm it does commerce and manufactures. I am speaking of 
the People, and not of the Parliament. The latter is divided into two parties : 
the Ministerial, and the Anti-ministerial. The revolutionary party, the interme- 
dial party, and the anti-ministerial party, will all rejoice, publicly or privately, 
at the defeat of the Duke of York at Dunkirk." The two paragraphs quoted 



1793] TO THE CITIZENS OF EUROPE. I4I 

the Ministers of all the Neutral Powers for the purpose of 
negotiating preliminaries of peace," I address this letter to 
you on that subject, and on the several matters connected 
therewith. 

In order to discuss this subject through all its circumstan- 
ces, it will be necessary to take a review of the state of 
Europe, prior to the French revolution. It will from thence 
appear, that the powers leagued against France are fighting 
to attain an object, which, were it possible to be attained, 
would be injurious to themselves. 

This is not an uncommon error in the history of wars and 
governments, of which the conduct of the English govern- 
ment in the war against America is a striking instance. She 
commenced that war for the avowed purpose of subjugating 
America ; and after wasting upwards of one hundred millions 
sterling, and then abandoning the object, she discovered, in 
the course of three or four years, that the prosperity of Eng- 
land was increased, instead of being diminished, by the inde- 
pendence of America. In short, every circumstance is 
pregnant with some natural effect, upon which intentions 
and opinions have no influence ; and the political error lies 
in misjudging what the effect will be. England misjudged 
it in the American war, and the reasons I shall now offer will 
shew, that she misjudges it in the present war. In discussing 
this subject, I leave out of the question everything respect- 
ing forms and systems of government ; for as all the govern- 
ments of Europe differ from each other, there is no reason 
that the government of France should not differ from the 
rest. 

The clamours continually raised in all the countries of 
Europe were, that the family of the Bourbons was become 

represent the only actual additions to the pamphlet. I have a clipping from the 
London Morning Chronicle of Friday, April 25, 1794, containing the part of 
the pamphlet headed "Of the present state of Europe and the Confederacy," 
signed " Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense, etc." On February 1, 1793, 
the Convention having declared war, appointed Paine, Barere, Condorcet and 
Faber, a Committee to draft an address to the English people. It was never 
done, but these fragments may represent notes written by Paine with reference to 
that task.- The pamphlet probably appeared late in September, 1793. — Editor* 



142 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i793 

too powerful ; that the intrigues of the court of France 
endangered the peace of Europe. Austria saw with a jealous 
eye the connection of France with Prussia ; and Prussia, in 
her turn became jealous of the connection of France with 
Austria ; England had wasted millions unsuccessfully in 
attempting to prevent the family compact with Spain ; Rus- 
sia disliked the alliance between France and Turkey ; and 
Turkey became apprehensive of the inclination of France 
towards an alliance with Russia. Sometimes the quadruple 
alliance alarmed some of the powers, and at other times a 
contrary system alarmed others, and in all those cases the 
charge was always made against the intrigues of the 
Bourbons. 

Admitting those matters to be true, the only thing that 
could have quieted the apprehensions of all those powers 
with respect to the interference of France, would have been 
her entire neutrality in Europe ; but this was impossible 
to be obtained, or if obtained was impossible to be secured, 
because the genius of her government was repugnant to all 
such restrictions. 

It now happens that by entirely changing the genius of 
her government, which France has done for herself, this 
neutrality, which neither wars could accomplish nor treaties 
secure, arises naturally of itself, and becomes the ground 
upon which the war should terminate. It is the thing that 
approaches the nearest of all others to what ought to be the 
political views of all the European powers ; and there is 
nothing that can so effectually secure this neutrality, as that 
the genius of the French government should be different 
from the rest of Europe. 

But if their object is to restore the Bourbons and monarchy 
together, they will unavoidably restore with it all the evils 
of which they have complained ; and the first question of 
discord will be, whose ally is that monarchy to be ? 

Will England agree to the restoration of the family com- 
pact against which she has been fighting and scheming ever 
since it existed ? Will Prussia agree to restore the alliance 
between France and Austria, or will Austria agree to restore 



1793] TO THE CITIZENS OF EUROPE. 1 43 

the former connection between France and Prussia, formed 
on purpose to oppose herself ; or will Spain or Russia, or any 
of the maritime powers, agree that France and her navy 
should be allied to England ? In fine, will any of the powers 
agree to strengthen the hands of the other against itself? 
Yet all these cases involve themselves in the original ques- 
tion of the restoration of the Bourbons ; and on the other 
hand, all of them disappear by the neutrality of France. 

If their object is not to restore the Bourbons, it must be 
the impracticable project of a partition of the country. The 
Bourbons will then be out of the question, or, more properly 
speaking, they will be put in a worse condition ; for as the 
preservation of the Bourbons made a part of the first object, 
the extirpation of them makes a part of the second. Their 
pretended friends will then become interested in their de- 
struction, because it is favourable to the purpose of parti- 
tion that none of the nominal claimants should be left in 
existence. 

But however the project of a partition may at first blind 
the eyes of the confederacy, or however each of them may 
hope to outwit the other in the progress or in the end, the 
embarrassments that will arise are insurmountable. But 
even were the object attainable, it would not be of such 
general advantage to the parties as the neutrality of France, 
which costs them nothing, and to obtain which they would 
formerly have gone to war. 

OF THE PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE, AND THE CON- 
FEDERACY. 

In the first place the confederacy is not of that kind that 
forms itself originally by concert and consent. It has been 
forced together by chance — a heterogeneous mass, held 
only by the accident of the moment ; and the instant that 
accident ceases to operate, the parties will retire to their 
former rivalships. 

I will now, independently of the impracticability of a par- 
tition project, trace out some of the embarrassments which 



144 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i793 

will arise among the confederated parties ; for it is contrary 
to the interest of a majority of them that such a project 
should succeed. 

To understand this part of the subject it is necessary, in 
the first place, to cast an eye over the map of Europe, and 
observe the geographical situation of the several parts of the 
confederacy; for however strongly the passionate politics of 
the moment may operate, the politics that arise from geo- 
graphical situation are the most certain, and will in all cases 
finally prevail. 

The world has been long amused with what is called the 
" balance of power." But it is not upon armies only that 
this balance depends. Armies have but a small circle of 
action. Their progress is slow and limited. But when we 
take maritime power into the calculation, the scale extends 
universally. It comprehends all the interests connected 
with commerce. 

The two great maritime powers are England and France. 
Destroy either of those, and the balance of naval power is 
destroyed. The whole world of commerce that passes on 
the Ocean would then lie at the mercy of the other, and the 
ports of any nation in Europe might be blocked up. 

The geographical situation of those two maritime powers 
comes next under consideration. Each of them occupies 
one entire side of the channel from the straits of Dover and 
Calais to the opening into the Atlantic. The commerce of 
all the northern nations, from Holland to Russia, must pass 
the straits of Dover and Calais, and along the Channel, to 
arrive at the Atlantic. 

This being the case, the systematical politics of all the 
nations, northward of the straits of Dover and Calais, can be 
ascertained from their geographical situation ; for it is neces- 
sary to the safety of their commerce that the two sides of 
the Channel, either in whole or in part, should not be in the 
possession either of England or France. While one nation 
possesses the whole of one side, and the other nation the 
other side, the northern nations cannot help seeing that in 
any situation of things their commerce will always find pro- 



1793] TO THE CITIZENS OF EUROPE. 145 

tection on one side or the other. It may sometimes be that 
of England and sometimes that of France. 

Again, while the English navy continues in its present 
condition, it is necessary that another navy should exist to 
controul the universal sway the former would otherwise have 
over the commerce of all nations. France is the only nation 
in Europe where this balance can be placed. The navies of 
the North, were they sufficiently powerful, could not be 
sufficiently operative. They are blocked up by the ice six 
months in the year. Spain lies too remote ; besides which, 
it is only for the sake of her American mines that she keeps 
up her navy. 

Applying these cases to the project of a partition of 
France, it will appear, that the project involves with it a 

DESTRUCTION OF THE BALANCE OF MARITIME POWER ; be- 
cause it is only by keeping France entire and indivisible that 
the balance can be kept up. This is a case that at first sight 
lies remote and almost hidden. But it interests all the mari- 
time and commercial nations in Europe in as great a degree 
as any case that has ever come before them. — In short, it is 
with war as it is with law. In law, the first merits of the 
case become lost in the multitude of arguments ; and in war 
they become lost in the variety of events. New objects arise 
that take the lead of all that went before, and everything 
assumes a new aspect. This was the case in the last great 
confederacy in what is called the succession war, and most 
probably will be the case in the present. 

I have now thrown together such thoughts as occurred to 
me on the several subjects connected with the confederacy 
against France, and interwoven with the interest of the neu- 
tral powers. Should a conference of the neutral powers take 
place, these observations will, at least, serve to generate 
others. The whole matter will then undergo a more exten- 
sive investigation than it is in my power to give ; and the 
evils attending upon either of the projects, that of restoring 
the Bourbons, or of attempting a partition of France, will 
have the calm opportunity of being fully discussed. 

On the part of England, it is very extraordinary that she 

VOL. III.— IO 



146 



THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. 



[l793 



should have engaged in a former confederacy, and a long 
expensive war, to prevent the family compact, and now en- 
gage in another confederacy to preserve it. And on the part 
of the other powers, it is as inconsistent that they should 
engage in a partition project, which, could it be executed, 
would immediately destroy the balance of maritime power 
in Europe, and would probably produce a second war, to 
remedy the political errors of the first. 

A Citizen of the United States of America. 




XX. 
APPEAL TO THE CONVENTION. 1 

Citizens Representatives: If I should not express 
myself with the energy I used formerly to do, you will 
attribute it to the very dangerous illness I have suffered in 
the prison of the Luxembourg. For several days I was in- 
sensible of my own existence ; and though I am much re- 
covered, it is with exceeding great difficulty that I find power 
to write you this letter. 

But before I proceed further, I request the Convention to 
observe : that this is the first line that has come from me, 
either to the Convention or to any of the Committees, since 
my imprisonment, — which is approaching to eight months. 
— Ah, my friends, eight months' loss of liberty seems almost 
a life-time to a man who has been, as I have been, the un- 
ceasing defender of Liberty for twenty years. 

I have now to inform the Convention of the reason of 
my not having written before. It is a year ago that I had 
strong reason to believe that Robespierre was my inveterate 
enemy, as he was the enemy of every man of virtue and 
humanity. The address that was sent to the Convention 
some time about last August from Arras, the native town of 

1 Written in Luxembourg prison, August 7, 1794. Robespierre having fallen 
July 29th, those who had been imprisoned under his authority were nearly all at 
once released, but Paine remained. There were still three conspirators against 
him on the Committee of Public Safety, and to that Committee this appeal was 
unfortunately confided ; consequently it never reached the Convention. The 
circumstances are related at length infra, in the introduction to the Memorial 
to Monroe (XXI.). It will also be seen that Paine was mistaken in his belief 
that his imprisonment was due to the enmity of Robespierre, and this he vaguely 
suspected when his imprisonment was prolonged three months after Robespierre's 
death. — Editor. 



I48 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i794 

Robespierre, I have always been informed was the work of 
that hypocrite and the partizans he had in the place. The 
intention of that address was to prepare the way for destroy- 
ing me, by making the people declare (though without 
assigning any reason) that I had lost their confidence ; the 
Address, however, failed of success, as it was immediately 
opposed by a counter-address from St. Omer, which de- 
clared the direct contrary. But the strange power that 
Robespierre, by the most consummate hypocrisy and the 
most hardened cruelties, had obtained, rendered any attempt 
on my part to obtain justice not only useless but dangerous ; 
for it is the nature of Tyranny always to strike a deeper 
blow when any attempt has been made to repel a former 
one. This being my situation, I submitted with patience to 
the hardness of my fate and waited the event of brighter 
days. I hope they are now arrived to the nation and 
to me. 

Citizens, when I left the United States in the year 1787 
I promised to all my friends that I would return to them 
the next year ; but the hope of seeing a revolution happily 
established in France, that might serve as a model to the 
rest of Europe, 1 and the earnest and disinterested desire of 
rendering every service in my power to promote it, induced 
me to defer my return to that country, and to the society of 
my friends, for more than seven years. This long sacrifice 
of private tranquillity, especially after having gone through 
the fatigues and dangers of the American Revolution which 
continued almost eight years, deserved a better fate than 
the long imprisonment I have silently suffered. But it is 
not the nation but a faction that has done me this injustice. 
Parties and Factions, various and numerous as they have 
been, I have always avoided. My heart was devoted to all 
France, and the object to which I applied myself was the 
Constitution. The Plan which I proposed to the Commit- 

1 Revolutions have now acquired such sanguinary associations that it is im- 
portant to bear in mind that by " revolution" Paine always means simply a 
change or reformation of government, which might be and ought to be blood- 
less. See " Rights of Man," Part II., vol. ii. of this work, pp. 513, 523. — Editor. 



1794] APPEAL TO THE CONVENTION. 149 

tee, of which I was a member, is now in the hands of 
Barere, and it will speak for itself. 

It is perhaps proper that I inform you of the cause as- 
assigned in the order for my imprisonment. It is that I am 
* a Foreigner ' ; whereas, the Foreigner thus imprisoned was 
invited into France by a decree of the late National As- 
sembly, and that in the hour of her greatest danger, when 
invaded by Austrians and Prussians. He was, moreover, a 
citizen of the United States of America, an ally of France, 
and not a subject of any country in Europe, and conse- 
quently not within the intentions of any decree concerning 
Foreigners. But any excuse can be made to serve the pur- 
pose of malignity when in power. 

I will not intrude on your time by offering any apology 
for the broken and imperfect manner in which I have ex- 
pressed myself. I request you to accept it with the sin- 
cerity with which it comes from my heart ; and I conclude 
with wishing Fraternity and prosperity to France, and union 
and happiness to her representatives. 

Citizens, I have now stated to you my situation, and I 
can have no doubt but your justice will restore me to the 
Liberty of which I have been deprived. 

Thomas Paine. 

Luxembourg, Thermidor 19, 
2nd Year of the French Republic, 
one and indivisible. 



55?^ 



XXI. 

THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 

editor's historical introduction. 

The Memorial is here printed from the manuscript of 
Paine now among the Morrison Papers, in the British 
Museum, — no doubt the identical document penned in Lux- 
embourg prison. The paper in the United States State De- 
partment (vol. vii., Monroe Papers) is accompanied by a note 
by Monroe : " Mr. Paine, Luxembourg, on my arrival in 
France, 1794. My answer was after the receipt of his sec- 
ond letter. It is thought necessary to print only those parts 
of his that relate directly to his confinement, and to omit all 
between the parentheses in each." The paper thus inscribed 
seems to have been a wrapper for all of Paine's letters. An 
examination of the MS. at Washington does not show any 
such" parentheses," indicating omissions, whereas that in the 
British Museum has such marks, and has evidently been pre- 
pared for the press, — being indeed accompanied by the long 
title of the French pamphlet. There are other indications 
that the British Museum MS. is the original Memorial from 
which was printed in Paris the pamphlet entitled : 

" Memoire de Thomas Payne, autographe et signe de sa main : 
addresse a M. Monroe, ministre des Etats-unis en france, pour 
reclamer sa mise en liberte comme citoyen Americain, 10 Sept. 
1794. Robespierre avait fait arreter Th. Payne, en 1793 — il fut 
conduit au Luxembourg 011 le glaive fut longtemps suspendu sur 
sa tete. Apres onze mois de captivite, il recouvra la liberte, sur 
la reclamation du ministre Americain — c'etait apres la chute de 
Robespierre — il reprit sa place a la convention, le 8 decembre 
1794. (18 frimaire an iii.) Ce Memoire contient des renseigne- 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 15 1 

mens curieux sur la conduite politique de Th. Payne en france, 
pendant la Revolution, et a l'epoque du proces de Louis XVI. 
Ce n'est point, dit il, comme Quaker, qu'il ne vota pas La Mort 
du Roi mais par un sentiment d'humanite, qui ne tenait point a 
ses principes religieux. Villenave." 

No date is given, but the pamphlet probably appeared 
early in 1795. Matthieu Gillaume Therese Villenave (b. 
1762, d. 1846) was a journalist, and it will be noticed that he, 
or the translator, modifies Paine's answer to Marat about his 
Quakerism. There are some loose translations in the cheap 
French pamphlet, but it is the only publication which has 
given Paine's Memorial with any fulness. Nearly ten pages 
of the manuscript were omitted from the Memorial when it 
appeared as an Appendix to the pamphlet entitled " Letter 
to George Washington, President of the United States of 
America, on Affairs public and private. By Thomas Paine, 
Author of the Works entitled, Common Sense, Rights of 
Man, Age of Reason, &c. Philadelphia: Printed by Benj. 
Franklin Bache, No. 112 Market Street. 1796. [Entered 
according to law.] " This much-abridged copy of the Memo- 
rial has been followed in all subsequent editions, so that the 
real document has not hitherto appeared. 1 

In appending the Memorial to his " Letter to Washing- 
ton," Paine would naturally omit passages rendered unim- 
portant by his release, but his friend Bache may have 
suppressed others that might have embarrassed American 
partisans of France, such as the scene at the king's trial. 

1 Bache's pamphlet reproduces the portrait engraved in Villenave, where it 
is underlined : "Peint par Ped [Peale] a Philadelphie, Dessine par F. Bonne- 
ville, Grave par Sandoz." In Bache it is : " Bolt sc. 1793 " ; and beneath this 
the curious inscription : " Thomas Paine. Secretair d. Americ : Congr : 1780. 
Mitgl : d. fr. Nat. Convents. 1793." The portrait is a variant of that now in 
Independence Hall, and one of two painted by C. W. Peale. The other (in 
which the chin is supported by the hand) was for religious reasons refused by 
the Boston Museum when it purchased the collection of " American Heroes " 
from Rembrandt Peale. It was bought by John McDonough, whose brother 
sold it to Mr. Joseph Jefferson, the eminent actor, and perished when his house 
was burned at Buzzard's Bay. Mr. Jefferson writes me that he meant to give 
the portrait to the Paine Memorial Society, Boston ; " but the cruel fire roasted 
the splendid Infidel, so I presume the saints are satisfied." 



152 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

This description, however, and a large proportion of the 
suppressed pages, are historically among the most interesting 
parts of the Memorial, and their restoration renders it neces- 
sary to transfer the document from its place as an appendix 
to that of a preliminary to the " Letter to Washington." 

Paine's Letter to Washington burdens his reputation to- 
day more, probably, than any other production of his pen. 
The traditional judgment was formed in the absence of many 
materials necessary for a just verdict. The editor feels 
under the necessity of introducing at this point an historical 
episode ; he cannot regard it as fair to the memory of either 
Paine or Washington that these two chapters should be 
printed without a full statement of the circumstances, the 
most important of which, but recently discovered, were un- 
known to either of those men. In the editor's " Life of 
Thomas Paine " (ii., pp. 77-180) newly discovered facts and 
documents bearing on the subject are given, which may be 
referred to by those who desire to investigate critically such 
statements as may here appear insufficiently supported. 
Considerations of space require that the history in that work 
should be only summarized here, especially as important new 
details must be added. 

Paine was imprisoned (December 28, 1793) through the 
hostility of Gouverneur Morris, the American Minister in 
Paris. The fact that the United States, after kindling rev- 
olution in France by its example, was then represented in 
that country by a Minister of vehement royalist opinions, 
and one who literally entered into the service of the King to 
defeat the Republic, has been shown by that Minister's 
own biographers. Some light is cast on the events that led 
to this strange situation by a letter written to M. de Mont- 
morin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, by a French Charge 
d'Affaires, Louis Otto, dated Philadelphia, 10 March, 
1792. Otto, a nobleman who married into the Livingston 
family, was an astute diplomatist, and enjoyed the inti- 
macy of the Secretary of State, Jefferson, and of his 
friends. At the close of a long interview Jefferson tells 
him that " The secresy with which the Senate covers its 



I794J THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 153 

deliberations serves to veil personal interest, which reigns 
therein in all its strength." Otto explains this as referring 
to the speculative operations of Senators, and to the com- 
mercial connections some of them have with England, making 
them unfriendly to French interests. 

" Among the latter the most remarkable is Mr. Robert Morris, 
of English birth, formerly Superintendent of Finance, a man of 
greatest talent, whose mercantile speculations are as unlimited as 
his ambition. He directs the Senate as he once did the American 
finances in making it keep step with his policy and his business. 
. . . About two years ago Mr. Robert Morris sent to France 
Mr. Gouverneur Morris to negotiate a loan in his name, and for 
different other personal matters. . . . During his sojourn in 
France, Mr. Rob. Morris thought he could make him more useful 
for his aims by inducing the President of the United States to 
entrust him with a negotiation with England relative to the Com- 
merce of the two countries. M. Gouv. Morris acquitted himself 
in this as an adroit man, and with his customary zeal, but despite 
his address {insinuation) obtained only the vague hope of an 
advantageous commercial treaty on condition of an Alliance re- 
sembling that between France and the United States. . . . [Mr. 
Robert Morris] is himself English, and interested in all the large 
speculations founded in this country for Great Britain. . . . 
His great services as Superintendent of Finance during the Revo- 
lution have assured him the esteem and consideration of General 
Washington, who, however, is far from adopting his views about 
France. The warmth with which Mr. Rob. Morris opposed in 
the Senate the exemption of French armateurs from tonnage, 
demanded by His Majesty, undoubtedly had for its object to 
induce the king, by this bad behavior, to break the treaty, in 
order to facilitate hereafter the negotiations begun with England 
to form an alliance. As for Mr. Gouv. Morris he is entirely 
devoted to his correspondent, with whom he has been constantly 
connected in business and opinion. His great talents are recog- 
nized, and his extreme quickness in conceiving new schemes and 
gaining others to them. He is perhaps the most eloquent and 
ingenious man of his country, but his countrymen themselves dis- 
trust his talents. They admire but fear him." 1 

1 Archives of the State Department, Paris, Etats Unis., vol. 35, fol. 301. 



154 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1794 

The Commission given to Gouverneur Morris by Wash- 
ington, to which Otto refers, was in his own handwriting, 
dated October 13, 1789, and authorized him 

" in the capacity of private agent, and in the credit of this letter, 
to converse with His Britannic Majesty's ministers on these 
points, viz. whether there be any, and what objection to perform- 
ing those articles of the treaty which remained to be performed 
on his part ; and whether they incline to a treaty of commerce on 
any and what terms. This communication ought regularly to be 
made to you by the Secretary of State ; but, that office not being 
at present filled, my desire of avoiding delays induces me to make 
it under my own hand." ' 

The President could hardly have assumed the authority 
of secretly appointing a virtual ambassador had there not 
been a tremendous object in view : this, as he explains in an 
accompanying letter, was to secure the evacuation by Great 
Britain of the frontier posts. This all-absorbing purpose of 
Washington is the key to his administration. Gouverneur 
Morris paved the way for Jay's treaty, and he was paid for 
it with the French mission. The Senate would not have 
tolerated his appointment to England, and only by a 
majority of four could the President secure his confirmation 
as Minister to France (January 12, 1792). The President 
wrote Gouverneur Morris (January 28th) a friendly lecture 
about the objections made to him, chiefly that he favored 
the aristocracy and was unfriendly to the revolution, and 
expressed " the fullest confidence " that, supposing the 
allegations founded, he would " effect a change." But 
Gouverneur Morris remained the agent of Senator Robert 
Morris, and still held Washington's mission to England, and 
he knew only as " conspirators " the rulers who succeeded 
Louis XVI. Even while utilizing them, he was an agent 
of Great Britain in its war against the country to which 
he was officially commissioned. 

Lafayette wrote to Washington (" Paris, March 15, 1792 ") 
the following appeal : 

1 Ford's " Writings of George Washington " vol. xi., p. 440. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 155 

"Permit me, my dear General, to make an observation for 
yourself alone, on the recent selection of an American ambassa- 
dor. Personally I am a friend of Gouverneur Morris, and have 
always been, in private, quite content with him ; but the aristo- 
cratic and really contra-revolutionary principles which he has 
avowed render him little fit to represent the only government re- 
sembling ours. ... I cannot repress the desire that Ameri- 
can and French principles should be in the heart and on the lips 
of the ambassador of the United States in France." x 

In addition to this, two successive Ministers from France, 
after the fall of the Monarchy, conveyed to the American 
Government the most earnest remonstrances against the 
continuance of Gouverneur Morris in their country, one of 
them reciting the particular offences of which he was guilty. 
The President's disregard of all these protests and entreaties, 
unexampled perhaps in history, had the effect of giving 
Gouverneur Morris enormous power over the country against 
which he was intriguing. He was recognized as the Irremov- 
able. He represented Washington's fixed and unalterable 
determination, and this at a moment when the main purpose 
of the revolutionary leaders was to preserve the alliance with 
America. Robespierre at that time (1793) had special charge 
of diplomatic affairs, and it is shown by the French historian, 
Frederic Masson, that he was very anxious to recover for the 
republic the initiative of the American alliance credited to 
the king ; and " although their Minister, Gouverneur Morris, 
was justly suspected, and the American republic was at that 
time aiming only to utilize the condition of its ally, the 
French republic cleared it at a cheap rate of its debts con- 
tracted with the King." 2 Morris adroitly held this doubt, 
whether the alliance of his government with Louis XVI. 
would be continued to that King's executioners, over the 
head of the revolutionists, as a suspended sword. Under 
that menace, and with the authentication of being Washing- 

1<4 Memoires, etc., du General Lafayette," Bruxelles, 1837, tome ii., pp. 
484, 485. 

3 " Le Departement des Affaires Etrangeres pendant la Revolution," p. 295. 



156 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

ton's irremovable mouthpiece, this Minister had only to 
speak and it was done. 

Meanwhile Gouverneur Morris was steadily working in 
France for the aim which he held in common with Robert 
Morris, namely to transfer the alliance from France to Eng- 
land. These two nations being at war, it was impossible for 
France to fulfil all the terms of the alliance ; it could not 
permit English ships alone to seize American provisions on 
the seas, and it was compelled to prevent American vessels 
from leaving French ports with cargoes certain of capture by 
British cruisers. In this way a large number of American 
Captains with their ships were detained in France, to their 
distress, but to their Minister's satisfaction. He did not fail 
to note and magnify all " infractions " of the treaty, with the 
hope that they might be the means of annulling it in favor 
of England, and he did nothing to mitigate sufferings which 
were counts in his indictment of the Treaty. 

It was at this point that Paine came in the American 
Minister's way. He had been on good terms with Gouver- 
neur Morris, who in 1790 (May 29th) wrote from London to 
the President: 

" On the 17th Mr. Paine called to tell me that he had conversed 
on the same subject [impressment of American seamen] with Mr. 
Burke, who had asked him if there was any minister, consul, or 
other agent of the United States who could properly make appli- 
cation to the Government : to which he had replied in the nega- 
tive ; but said that I was here, who had been a member of 
Congress, and was therefore the fittest person to step forward. 
In consequence of what passed thereupon between them he 
[Paine] urged me to take the matter up, which I promised to do. 
On the 18th I wrote to the Duke of Leeds requesting an inter- 
view." ' 

At that time (1790) Paine was as yet a lion in London, 
thus able to give Morris a lift. He told Morris, in 1792 that 
he considered his appointment to France a mistake. This was 
only on the ground of his anti-republican opinions ; he never 
dreamed of the secret commissions to England. He could 

1 Force's "American State Tapers, For. Rel.," vol. i., p. 181. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 157 

not have supposed that the Minister who had so promptly- 
presented the case of impressed seamen in England would 
not equally attend to the distressed Captains in France ; but 
these, neglected by their Minister, appealed to Paine. Paine 
went to see Morris, with whom he had an angry interview, 
during which he asked Morris " if he did not feel ashamed 
to take the money of the country and do nothing for it." 
Paine thus incurred the personal enmity of Gouverneur 
Morris. By his next step he endangered this Minister's 
scheme for increasing the friction between France and 
America ; for Paine advised the Americans to appeal directly 
to the Convention, and introduced them to that body, which 
at once heeded their application, Morris being left out of 
the matter altogether. This was August 22d, and Morris was 
very angry. It is probable that the Americans in Paris felt 
from that time that Paine was in danger, for on September 
13th a memorial, evidently concocted by them, was sent to the 
French government proposing that they should send Com- 
missioners to the United States to forestall the intrigues of 
England, and that Paine should go with them, and set forth 
their case in the journals, as he " has great influence with the 
people." This looks like a design to get Paine safely out of 
the country, but it probably sealed his fate. Had Paine 
gone to America and reported there Morris's treacheries to 
France and to his own country, and his licentiousness, 
notorious in Paris, which his diary has recently revealed to 
the world, the career of the Minister would have swiftly 
terminated. Gouverneur Morris wrote to Robert Morris 
that Paine was intriguing for his removal, and intimates that 
he (Paine) was ambitious of taking his place in Paris. Paine's 
return to America must be prevented. 

Had the American Minister not been well known as an 
enemy of the republic it might have been easy to carry Paine 
from the Convention to the guillotine ; but under the condi- 
tions the case required all of the ingenuity even of a diplo- 
matist so adroit as Gouverneur Morris. But fate had played 
into his hand. It so happened that Louis Otto, whose letter 
from Philadelphia has been quoted, had become chief secre- 



158 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

tary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Paris, M. Deforgues. 
This Minister and his Secretary, apprehending the fate that 
presently overtook both, were anxious to be appointed to 
America. No one knew better than Otto the command- 
ing influence of Gouverneur Morris, as Washington's " irre- 
movable " representative, both in France and America, and 
this desire of the two frightened officials to get out of France 
was confided to him. 1 By hope of his aid, and by this com- 
promising confidence, Deforgues came under the power of a 
giant who used it like a giant. Morris at once hinted that 
Paine was fomenting the troubles given by Genet to Wash- 
ington in America, and thus set in motion the procedure by 
which Paine was ultimately lodged in prison. 

There being no charge against Paine in France, and no ill- 
will felt towards him by Robespierre, compliance with the 
supposed will of Washington was in this case difficult. Six 
months before, a law had been passed to imprison aliens of 
hostile nationality, which could not affect Paine, he being a 
member of the Convention and an American. But a decree 
was passed, evidently to reach Paine, " that no foreigner 
should be admitted to represent the French people " ; by 
this he was excluded from the Convention, and the Com- 
mittee of General Surety enabled to take the final step of 
assuming that he was an Englishman, and thus under the 
decree against aliens of hostile nations. 8 

1 Letter of Gouverneur Morris to Washington, Oct. 19, 1793. Sparks's 
*' Life of Gouverneur Morris," vol. ii., p. 375. 

2 Although, as I have said, there was no charge against Paine in France, and 
none assigned in any document connected with his arrest, some kind of insinua- 
tion had to be made in the Convention to cover proceedings against a Deputy, 
and Bourdon de l'Oise said, " I know that he has intrigued with a former agent 
of the bureau of Foreign Affairs." It will be seen by the third addendum to the 
Memorial to Monroe that Paine supposed this to refer to Louis Otto, who had 
been his interpreter in an interview requested by Barere, of the Committee of 
Public Safety. But as Otto was then, early in September, 1793, Secretary in the 
Foreign Office, and Barere a fellow-terrorist of Bourdon, there could be no 
accusation based on an interview which, had it been probed, would have put 
Paine's enemies to confusion. It is doubtful, however, if Paine was right in his 
conjecture. The reference of Bourdon was probably to the collusion between 
Paine and Genet suggested by Morris. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 59 

Paine was thus lodged in prison simply to please Washing- 
ton, to whom it was left to decide whether he had been 
rightly represented by his Minister in the case. When the 
large number of Americans in Paris hastened in a body to 
the Convention to demand his release, the President (Vadier) 
extolled Paine, but said his birth in England brought him 
under the measures of safety, and referred them to the Com- 
mittees. There they were told that " their reclamation was 
only the act of individuals, without any authority from the 
American Government." Unfortunately the American peti- 
tioners, not understanding by this a reference to the Presi- 
dent, unsuspiciously repaired to Morris, as also did Paine by 
letter. The Minister pretended compliance, thereby prevent- 
ing their direct appeal to the President. Knowing, however, 
that America would never agree that nativity under the 
British flag made Paine any more than other Americans a 
citizen of England, the American Minister came from Sain- 
port, where he resided, to Paris, and secured from the obedi- 
ent Deforgues a certificate that he had reclaimed Paine as an 
American citizen, but that he was held as a French citizen. 
This ingeniously prepared certificate which was sent to the 
Secretary of State (Jefferson), and Morris's pretended " re- 
clamation," which was never sent to America, are translated 
in my " Life of Paine," and here given in the original. 

A Paris le 14 fevrier 1794, 26 pluviose. 

Le Ministre plenipotentiaire des JStals Unis de VAmerique pres la 
Republique frangaise au Ministre des Affaires JEtrangeres. 

Monsieur : 

Thomas Paine vient de s'adresser a moi pour que je le reclame 
comme Citoyen des Etats Unis. Voici (je crois) les Faits que le 
regardent. II est ne en Angleterre. Devenu ensuite Citoyen des 
Etats Unis il s'y est acquise une grande celebrite par des Ecrits 
revolutionnaires. En consequence il fut adopte Citoyen franeais 
et ensuite elu membre de la Convention. Sa conduite depuis cette 
epoque n'est pas de mon ressort. J'ignore la cause de sa Detention 
actuelle dans la prison du Luxembourg, mais je vous prie Mon- 
sieur (si des raisons que ne me sont pas connues s'opposent a sa 



l6o THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

liberation) de vouloir bien m'en instruire pour que je puisse les 
communiquer au Gouvernement des Etats Unis. 
J'ai l'honneur d'etre, Monsieur, 

Votre tres humble Serviteur 

Gouv. Morris. 

Paris, i Ventose l'An 2d. de la Republique une et indivisible. 

Le Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres au Ministre Plenipotentiaire 
des JEtats Unis de V Ame'rique prh la Rtpublique Fran^aise. 

Par votre lettre du 26 du mois dernier, vous reclamez la liberte 
de Thomas Paine, comme Citoyen americain. Ne en Angleterre, 
cet ex-depute est devenu successivement Citoyen Americain et 
Citoyen francais. En acceptant ce dernier titre et en remplissant 
une place dans le Corps Legislatif, il est soumis aux lois de la 
Republique et il a renonce de fait a la protection que le droit des 
gens et les trait^s conclus avec les Etats Unis auraient pu lui 
assurer. 

J'ignore les motifs de sa detention mais je dois presumer quils 
bien fondes. Je vois neanmoins soumettre au Comite de Salut 
Public la demande que vous m'avez adressee et je m'empresserai 
de vous faire connaitre sa decision. 

Deforgues. 1 

1 Archives of the Foreign Office, Paris, "Etats Unis," vol. xl. Trans- 
lations: — Morris : "Sir, — Thomas Paine has just applied to me to claim 
him as a citizen of the United States. Here (I believe) are the facts relating 
to him. He was born in England. Having afterwards become a citizen of the 
United States, he acquired great celebrity there by his revolutionary writings. 
In consequence he was adopted a French citizen and then elected Member of the 
Convention. His conduct since this epoch is out of my jurisdiction. I am 
ignorant of the reason for his present detention in the Luxembourg prison, but 
I beg you, sir (if reasons unknown to me prevent his liberation), be so good as 
to inform me, that I may communicate them to the government of the United 
States." Deforgues : "By your letter of the 26th of last month you reclaim 
the liberty of Thomas Paine as an American citizen. Born in England, this 
ex-deputy has become successively an American and a French citizen. In 
accepting this last title, and in occupying a place in the Corps Legislatif he 
submitted himself to the laws of the Republic, and has certainly renounced the 
protection which the law of nations, and treaties concluded with the United 
States, could have assured him. I am ignorant of the motives of his detention, 
but I must presume they are well founded. I shall nevertheless submit to the 
Committee of Public Safety the demand you have addressed to me, and I shall 
lose no time in letting you know its decision." 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. l6l 

It will be seen that Deforgues begins his letter with a 
falsehood : " You reclaim the liberty of Paine as an Ameri- 
can citizen." Morris's letter had declared him a French 
citizen out of his (the American Minister's) " jurisdiction." 
Morris states for Deforgues his case, and it is obediently- 
adopted, though quite discordant with the decree, which 
imprisoned Paine as a foreigner. Deforgues also makes 
Paine a member of a non-existent body, the " Corps Legis- 
latif," which might suggest in Philadelphia previous con- 
nection with the defunct Assembly. No such inquiries as 
Deforgues promised, nor any, were ever made, and of course 
none were intended. Morris had got from Deforgues the 
certificate he needed to show in Philadelphia and to Ameri- 
cans in Paris. His pretended " reclamation " was of course 
withheld : no copy of it ever reached America till brought 
from French archives by the present writer. Morris does 
not appear to have ventured even to keep a copy of it him- 
self. The draft (presumably in English), found among his 
papers by Sparks, alters the fatal sentence which deprived 
Paine of his American citizenship and of protection. " Res- 
sort " — jurisdiction — which has a definite technical meaning 
in the mouth of a Minister, is changed to " cognizance " ; 
the sentence is made to read, " his conduct from that time 
has not come under my cognizance." (Sparks's " Life of 
Gouverneur Morris," i., p. 401). Even as it stands in his 
book, Sparks says : " The application, it must be confessed, 
was neither pressing in its terms, nor cogent in its argu- 
ments." 

The American Minister, armed with this French missive, 
dictated by himself, enclosed it to the Secretary of State, 
whom he supposed to be still Jefferson, with a letter stating 
that he had reclaimed Paine as an American, that he (Paine) 
was held to answer for " crimes," and that any further at- 
tempt to release him would probably be fatal to the 
prisoner. By these falsehoods, secured from detection by 
the profound secrecy of the Foreign Offices in both coun- 
tries, Morris paralyzed all interference from America, as 
Washington could not of course intervene in behalf of an 

VOL III— II 



l62 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i794 

American charged with " crimes " committed in a foreign 
country, except to demand his trial. But it was important 
also to paralyze further action by Americans in Paris, and 
to them, too, was shown the French certificate of a reclama- 
tion never made. A copy was also sent to Paine, who re- 
turned to Morris an argument which he entreated him to 
embody in a further appeal to the French Minister. This 
document was of course buried away among the papers of 
Morris, who never again mentioned Paine in any communi- 
cation to the French government, but contented himself with 
personal slanders of his victim in private letters to Wash- 
ington's friend, Robert Morris, and no doubt others. I 
quote Sparks's summary of the argument unsuspectingly sent 
by Paine to Morris : 

" He first proves himself to have been an American citizen, a 
character of which he affirms no subsequent act had deprived 
him. The title of French citizen was a mere nominal and hon- 
orary one, which the Convention chose to confer, when they 
asked him to help them in making a Constitution. But let the 
nature or honor of the title be what it might, the Convention had 
taken it away of their own accord. ' He was excluded from the 
Convention on the motion for excluding foreigners. Conse- 
quently he was no longer under the law of the Republic as a 
citizen, but under the protection of the Treaty of Alliance, as fully 
and effectually as any other citizen of America. It was there- 
fore the duty of the American Minister to demand his release.' " 

To this Sparks adds : 

" Such is the drift of Paine's argument, and it would seem in- 
deed that he could not be a foreigner and a citizen at the same 
time. It was hard that his only privilege of citizenship should 
be that of imprisonment. But this logic was a little too refined 
for the revolutionary tribunals of the Jacobins in Paris, and Mr. 
Morris well knew it was not worth while to preach it to them. 
He did not believe there was any serious design at that time 
against the life of the prisoner, and he considered his best chance 
of safety to be in preserving silence for the present. Here the 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 63 

matter rested, and Paine was left undisturbed till the arrival of 
Mr. Monroe, who procured his discharge from confinement." 
(" Life of Gouverneur Morris," i., p. 417.) ' 

Sparks takes the gracious view of the man whose Life he 
was writing, but the facts now known turn his words to sar- 
casm. The Terror by which Paine suffered was that of 
Morris, who warned him and his friends, both in Paris and 
America, that if his case was stirred the knife would fall on 
him. Paine declares (see xx.) that this danger kept him 
silent till after the fall of Robespierre. None knew so well 
as Morris that there were no charges against Paine for of- 
fences in France, and that Robespierre was awaiting that 
action by Washington which he (Morris) had rendered im- 
possible. Having thus suspended the knife over Paine for 
six months, Robespierre interpreted the President's silence, 
and that of Congress, as confirmation of Morris's story, and 
resolved on the execution of Paine " in the interests of 
America as well as of France " ; in other words to con- 
ciliate Washington to the endangered alliance with France. 

Paine escaped the guillotine by the strange accident re- 
lated in a further chapter. The fall of Robespierre did not 
of course end his imprisonment, for he was not Robespierre's 
but Washington's prisoner. Morris remained Minister in 
France nearly a month after Robespierre's death, but the 
word needed to open Paine's prison was not spoken. After 
his recall, had Monroe been able at once to liberate Paine, 
an investigation must have followed, and Morris would 

1 There is no need to delay the reader here with any argument about Paine's 
unquestionable citizenship, that point having been settled by his release as an 
American, and the sanction of Monroe's action by his government. There was 
no genuineness in any challenge of Paine's citizenship, but a mere desire to do 
him an injury. In this it had marvellous success. Ten years after Paine had 
been reclaimed by Monroe, with the sanction of Washington, as an American 
citizen, his vote was refused at New Rochelle, New York, by the super- 
visor, Elisha Ward, on the ground that Washington and Morris had refused to 
reclaim him. Under his picture of the dead Paine, Jarvis, the artist, wrote : 
" A man who devoted his whole life to the attainment of two objects — rights of 
man, and freedom of conscience — had his vote denied when living, and was 
denied a grave when dead." — Editor. 



164 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

probably have taken his prisoner's place in the Luxembourg. 
But Morris would not present his letters of recall, and re- 
fused to present his successor, thus keeping Monroe out of 
his office four weeks. In this he was aided by Bourdon de 
TOise (afterwards banished as a royalist conspirator, but 
now a commissioner to decide on prisoners) ; also by tools 
of Robespierre who had managed to continue on the Com- 
mittee of Public Safety by laying their crimes on the dead 
scapegoat — Robespierre. Against Barere (who had signed 
Paine's death-warrant), Billaud-Varennes, and Colloit d'Her- 
bois, Paine, if liberated, would have been a terrible witness. 
The Committee ruled by them had suppressed Paine's ap- 
peal to the Convention, as they presently suppressed Mon- 
roe's first appeal. Paine, knowing that Monroe had arrived, 
but never dreaming that the manoeuvres of Morris were 
keeping him out of office, wrote him from prison the 
following letters, hitherto unpublished. 

August 17th, 1794. 

My Dear Sir : As I believe none of the public papers 
have announced your name right I am unable to address 
you by it, but a new minister from America is joy to me and 
will be so to every American in France. 

Eight months I have been imprisoned, and I know not for 
what, except that the order says that I am a Foreigner. 
The Illness I have suffered in this place (and from which I 
am but just recovering) had nearly put an end to my exist- 
ence. My life is but of little value to me in this situation 
tho' I have borne it with a firmness of patience and forti- 
tude. 

I enclose you a copy of a letter, (as well the translation as 
the English) — which I sent to the Convention after the fall 
of the Monster Robespierre — for I was determined not to 
write a line during the time of his detestable influence. I sent 
also a copy to the Committee of public safety — but I have not 
heard any thing respecting it. I have now no expectation 
of delivery but by your means — Morris has been my inveterate 
enemy, and I think he lias permitted something of the national 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 65 

Character of America to suffer by quietly letting a Citizen of 
that Country remain almost eight months in prison without 
making every official exertion to procure him justice, — for 
every act of violence offered to a foreigner is offered also to 
the Nation to which he belongs. 

The gentleman, Mr. Beresford, who will present you this 
has been very friendly to me. 1 Wishing you happiness in 
your appointment, I am your affectionate friend and humble 
servant. 

August 1 8th, 1794. 

DEAR Sir : In addition to my letter of yesterday (sent to 
Mr. Beresford to be conveyed to you but which is delayed 
on account of his being at St. Germain) I send the following 
memoranda. 

I was in London at the time I was elected a member of 
this Convention. I was elected a Depute in four different 
departments without my knowing any thing of the matter, 
or having the least idea of it. The intention of electing the 
Convention before the time of the former Legislature ex- 
pired, was for the purpose of reforming the Constitution or 
rather for forming a new one. As the former Legislature 
shewed a disposition that I should assist in this business of 
the new Constitution, they prepared the way by voting me 
a French Citoyen (they conferred the same title on General 
Washington and certainly I had no more idea than he had 
of vacating any part of my real Citizenship of America for a 
nominal one in france, especially at a time when she did not 
know whether she would be a Nation or not, and had it not 
even in her power to promise me protection). I was elected 
(the second person in number of Votes, the Abbe Sieves 
being first) a member for forming the Constitution, and every 
American in Paris as well as my other acquaintance knew 
that it was my intention to return to America as soon as the 
Constitution should be established. The violence of Party 
soon began to shew itself in the Convention, but it was im- 
possible for me to see upon what principle they differed — 

1 A friendly lamp-lighter, alluded to in the Letter to Washington, conveyed 
this letter to Mr. Beresford. — Editor. 



1 66 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i794 

unless it was a contention for power. I acted however as I 
did in America, I connected myself with no Party, but con- 
sidered myself altogether a National Man — but the case with 
Parties generally is that when you are not with one you are 
supposed to be with the other. 

I was taken out of bed between three and four in the 
morning on the 28 of December last, and brought to the 
Luxembourg — without any other accusation inserted in the 
order than that I was a foreigner; a motion having been 
made two days before in the Convention to expel Foreigners 
therefrom. I certainly then remained, even upon their own 
tactics, what I was before, a Citizen of America. 

About three weeks after my imprisonment the Americans 
that were in Paris went to the bar of the Convention to re- 
claim me, but contrary to my advice, they made their address 
into a Petition, and it miscarried. I then applied to G. 
Morris, to reclaim me as an official part of his duty, which 
he found it necessary to do, and here the matter stopt. 1 I 
have not heard a single line or word from any American 
since, which is now seven months. I rested altogether on 
the hope that a new Minister would arrive from America. I 
have escaped with life from more dangers than one. Had it 
not been for the fall of Roberspierre and your timely arrival 
I know not what fate might have yet attended me. There 
seemed to be a determination to destroy all the Prisoners 
without regard to merit, character, or anything else. During 
the time I laid at the height of my illness they took, in one 
night only, 169 persons out of this prison and executed all 
but eight. The distress that I have suffered at being obliged 
to exist in the midst of such horrors, exclusive of my own 
precarious situation, suspended as it were by the single 
thread of accident, is greater than it is possible you can con- 
ceive — but thank God times are at last changed, and I hope 
that your Authority will release me from this unjust im- 
prisonment. 

1 The falsehood told Paine, accompanied by an intimation of danger in pursu- 
ing the pretended reclamation, was of course meant to stop any further action 
by Paine or his friends. — Editor. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 67 

August 25, 1794. 

My Dear Sir: Having nothing to do but to sit and 
think, I will write to pass away time, and to say that I am 
still here. I have received two notes from Mr. Beresford 
which are encouraging (as the generality of notes and letters 
are that arrive to persons here) but they contain nothing ex- 
plicit or decisive with respect to my liberation, and I shall be 
very glad to receive a line from yourself to inform me in what 
condition the matter stands. If I only glide out of prison by 
a sort of accident America gains no credit by my liberation, 
neither can my attachment to her be increased by such a 
circumstance. She has had the services of my best days, 
she has my allegiance, she receives my portion of Taxes for 
my house in Borden Town and my farm at New Rochelle, 
and she owes me protection both at home and thro' her 
Ministers abroad, yet I remain in prison, in the face of her 
Minister, at the arbitrary will of a committee. 

Excluded as I am from the knowledge of everything and 
left to a random of ideas, I know not what to think or how 
to act. Before there was any Minister here (for I consider 
Morris as none) and while the Robespierrian faction lasted, 
I had nothing to do but to keep my mind tranquil and ex- 
pect the fate that was every day inflicted upon my com- 
rades, not individually but by scores. Many a man whom I 
have passed an hour with in conversation I have seen march- 
ing to his destruction the next hour, or heard of it the next 
morning ; for what rendered the scene more horrible was 
that they were generally taken away at midnight, so that 
every man went to bed with the apprehension of never see- 
ing his friends or the world again. 

I wish to impress upon you that all the changes that have 
taken place in Paris have been sudden. There is now a 
moment of calm, but if thro' any over complaisance to the 
persons you converse with on the subject of my liberation, 
you omit procuring it for me now, you may have to lament 
the fate of your friend when its too late. The loss of a 
Battle to the Northward or other possible accident may 



1 68 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE, [1794 

happen to bring this about. I am not out of danger till I 
am out of Prison. Yours affectionately. 

P. S. — I am now entirely without money. The Conven- 
tion owes me 1800 livres salary which I know not how to 
get while I am here, nor do I know how to draw for money 
on the rent of my farm in America. It is under the care of 
my good friend General Lewis Morris. I have received no 
rent since I have been in Europe. 

[Addressed] Minister Plenipotentiary from America, 
Maison des Etrangers, Rue de la Loi, Rue Richelieu. 

Such was the sufficiently cruel situation when there reached 
Paine in prison, September 4th, the letter of Peter White- 
side which caused him to write his Memorial. Whiteside 
was a Philadelphian whose bankruptcy in London had 
swallowed up some of Paine's means. His letter, reporting 
to Paine that he was not regarded by the American Govern- 
ment or people as an American citizen, and that no American 
Minister could interfere in his behalf, was evidently inspired 
by Morris who was still in Paris, the authorities being un- 
willing to give him a passport to Switzerland, as they knew 
he was going in that direction to join the conspirators against 
France. This Whiteside letter put Paine, and through him 
Monroe, on a false scent by suggesting that the difficulty of 
his case lay in a bona fide question of citizenship, whereas 
there never had been really any such question. The knot by 
which Morris had bound Paine was thus concealed, and 
Monroe was appealing to polite wolves in the interest of their 
victim. There were thus more delays, inexplicable alike to 
Monroe and to Paine, eliciting from the latter some heart- 
broken letters, not hitherto printed, which I add at the end 
of the Memorial. To add to the difficulties and dangers, 
Paris was beginning to be agitated by well-founded rumors 
of Jay's injurious negotiations in England, and a coldness 
towards Monroe was setting in. Had Paine's release been 
delayed much longer an American Minister's friendship might 
even have proved fatal. Of all this nothing could be known 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 69 

to Paine, who suffered agonies he had not known during the 
Reign of Terror. The other prisoners of Robespierre's time 
had departed ; he alone paced the solitary corridors of the 
Luxembourg, chilled by the autumn winds, his cell tireless, 
unlit by any candle, insufficiently nourished, an abscess form- 
ing in his side ; all this still less cruel than the feeling that he 
was abandoned, not only by Washington but by all America. 

This is the man of whom Washington wrote to Madison nine 
years before : " Must the merits and services of ' Common 
Sense ' continue to glide down the stream of time unrewarded 
by this country ? " This, then, is his reward. To his old 
comrade in the battle-fields of Liberty, George Washington, 
Paine owed his ten months of imprisonment, at the end of 
which Monroe found him a wreck, and took him (November 
4) to his own house, where he and his wife nursed him back 
into life. But it was not for some months supposed that Paine 
could recover ; it was only after several relapses ; and it was 
under the shadow of death that he wrote the letter to Wash- 
ington so much and so ignorantly condemned. Those who 
have followed the foregoing narrative will know that Paine's 
grievances were genuine, that his infamous treatment stains 
American history ; but they will also know that they lay 
chiefly at the door of a treacherous and unscrupulous Ameri- 
can Minister. 

Yet it is difficult to find an excuse for the retention of that 
Minister in France by Washington. On Monroe's return to 
America in 1797, he wrote a pamphlet concerning the mission 
from which he had been curtly recalled, in which he said : 

" I was persuaded from Mr. Morris's known political character 
and principles, that his appointment, and especially at a period 
when the French nation was in a course of revolution from an 
arbitrary to a free government, would tend to discountenance the 
republican cause there and at home, and otherwise weaken, and 
greatly to our prejudice, the connexion subsisting between the 
two countries." 

In a copy of this pamphlet found at Mount Vernon, Wash- 
ington wrote on the margin of this sentence : 



I^O THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1794 

" Mr. Morris was known to be a man of first rate abilities ; and 
his integrity and honor had never been impeached. Besides, Mr. 
Morris was sent whilst the kingly government was in existence, ye 
end of 91 or beginning of 92." 1 

But this does not explain why Gouverneur Morris was per- 
sistently kept in France after monarchy was abolished 
(September 21, 1792), or even after Lafayette's request for 
his removal, already quoted. To that letter of Lafayette no 
reply has been discovered. After the monarchy was abol- 
ished, Ternant and Genet successively carried to America 
protests from their Foreign Office against the continuance 
of a Minister in France, who was known in Paris, and is now 
known to all acquainted with his published papers, to have 
all along made his office the headquarters of British intrigue 
against France, American interests being quite subordinated. 
Washington did not know this, but he might have known it, 
and his disregard of French complaints can hardly be ascribed 
to any other cause than his delusion that Morris was deeply 
occupied with the treaty negotiations confided to him. It 
must be remembered that Washington believed such a treaty 
with England to be the alternative of war. 2 On that appre- 
hension the British party in America, and British agents, 
played to the utmost, and under such influences Washington 
sacrificed many old friendships, — with Jefferson, Madison, 
Monroe, Edmund Randolph, Paine, — and also the confidence 
of his own State, Virginia. 

There is a traditional impression that Paine's angry letter 
to Washington was caused by the President's failure to inter- 
pose for his relief from prison. But Paine believed that the 
American Minister (Morris) had reclaimed him in some feeble 
fashion, as an American citizen, and he knew that the Presi- 
dent had officially approved Monroe's action in securing his 
release. His grievance was that Washington, whose letters 
of friendship he cherished, who had extolled his services 
to America, should have manifested no concern personally, 

1 "Washington's marginal notes on Monroe's "View, etc.," were first fully given 
in Ford's " Writings of Washington," vol. xiii., p. 452, seq. 
3 Ibid., p. 453. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 171 

made no use of his commanding influence to rescue him 
from daily impending death, sent to his prison no word of 
kindness or inquiry, and sent over their mutual friend Mon- 
roe without any instructions concerning him ; and finally, 
that his private letter, asking explanation, remained unan- 
swered. No doubt this silence of Washington concerning 
the fate of Paine, whom he acknowledged to be an American 
citizen, was mainly due to his fear of offending England, 
which had proclaimed Paine. The " outlaw's " imprisonment 
in Paris caused jubilations among the English gentry, and 
went on simultaneously with Jay's negotiations in London, 
when any expression by Washington of sympathy with Paine 
(certain of publication) might have imperilled the Treaty, re- 
garded by the President as vital. 

So anxious was the President about this, that what he sup- 
posed had been done for Paine by Morris, and what had 
really been done by Monroe, was kept in such profound 
secrecy, that even his Secretary of State, Pickering, knew 
nothing of it. This astounding fact I recently discovered in 
the manuscripts of that Secretary. 1 Colonel Pickering, while 
flattering enough to the President in public, despised his in- 
tellect, and among his papers is a memorandum concluding 
as follows : 

" But when the hazards of the Revolutionary War had ended, 
by the establishment of our Independence, why was the knowl- 
edge of General Washington's comparatively defective mental 
powers not freely divulged ? Why, even by the enemies of his 
civil administration were his abilities very tenderly glanced at ? 
— Because there were few, if any men, who did not revere him 
for his distinguished virtues ; his modesty — his unblemished in- 
tegrity, his pure and disinterested patriotism. These virtues, of 
infinitely more value than exalted abilities without them, secured 
to him the veneration and love of his fellow citizens at large. 
Thus immensely popular, no man was willing to publish, under 
his hand, even the simple truth. The only exception, that I 
recollect, was the infamous Tom Paine ; and this when in France, 
after he had escaped the guillotine of Robespierre ; and in 
1 Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. li., p. 171. 



172 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1794 

resentment, because, after he had participated in the French Revo- 
lution, President Washington seemed not to have thought him so 
very important a character in the world, as officially to interpose 
for his relief from the fangs of the French ephemeral Rulers. 
In a word, no man, however well informed, was willing to hazard 
his own popularity by exhibiting the real intellectual character of 
the immensely popular Washington." 

How can this ignorance of an astute man, Secretary of 
State under Washington and Adams, be explained ? Had 
Washington hidden the letters showing on their face that he 
had "officially interposed " for Paine by two Ministers? 

Madison, writing to Monroe, April 7, 1796, says that 
Pickering had spoken to him " in harsh terms " of a letter 
written by Paine to the President. This was a private letter 
of September 20, 1795, afterwards printed in Paine's public 
Letter to Washington. The Secretary certainly read that 
letter on its arrival, January 18, 1796, and yet Washington 
does not appear to have told him of what had been officially 
done in Paine's case ! Such being the secrecy which Wash- 
ington had carried from the camp to the cabinet, and the 
morbid extent of it while the British Treaty was in negotia- 
tion and discussion, one can hardly wonder at his silence 
under Paine's private appeal and public reproach. 

Much as Pickering hated Paine, he declares him the only 
man who ever told the simple truth about Washington. In 
the lapse of time historical research, while removing the 
sacred halo of Washington, has revealed beneath it a stronger 
brain than was then known to any one. Paine published 
what many whispered, while they were fawning on Wash- 
ington for office, or utilizing his power for partisan ends. 
Washington, during his second administration, when his 
mental decline was remarked by himself, by Jefferson, and 
others, was regarded by many of his eminent contemporaries 
as fallen under the sway of small partisans. Not only 
was the influence of Jefferson, Madison, Randolph, Monroe, 
Livingston, alienated, but the counsels of Hamilton were 
neutralized by Wolcott and Pickering, who apparently agreed 
about the President's " mental powers." Had not Paine 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 73 

previously incurred the odium tkeo logician, his pamphlet 
concerning Washington would have been more damaging ; 
even as it was, the verdict was by no means generally favorable 
to the President, especially as the replies to Paine assumed 
that Washington had indeed failed to try and rescue him 
from impending death. 1 A pamphlet written by Bache, 
printed anonymously (1797), Remarks occasioned by the late 
conduct of Mr. Washington, indicates the belief of those 
who raised Washington to power, that both Randolph and 
Paine had been sacrificed to please Great Britain. 

The Bien-inJ 'orme (Paris, November 12, 1797) published a 
letter from Philadelphia, which may find translation here as 
part of the history of the pamphlet : 

" The letter of Thomas Paine to General Washington is read 
here with avidity. We gather from the English papers that the 
Cabinet of St. James has been unable to stop the circulation of 
that pamphlet in England, since it is allowable to reprint there 
any English work already published elsewhere, however dis- 
agreeable to Messrs. Pitt and Dundas. We read in the letter to 
Washington that Robespierre had declared to the Committee of 
Public Safety that it was desirable in the interests of both France 
and America that Thomas Paine, who, for seven or eight months 
had been kept a prisoner in the Luxembourg, should forthwith 
be brought up for judgment before the revolutionary tribunal. 
The proof of this fact is found in Robespierre's papers, and gives 
ground for strange suspicions." 

1 The principal ones were "A Letter to Thomas Paine. By an American 
Citizen. New York, 1797," and "A Letter to the infamous Tom Paine, in 
answer to his Letter to General Washington. December 1796. By Peter 
Porcupine " (Cobbett). Writing to David Stuart, January 8, 1797, Washington, 
speaking of himself in the third person, says : " Although he is soon to become a 
private citizen, his opinions are to be knocked down, and his character traduced 
as low as they are capable of sinking it, even by resorting to absolute falsehoods. 
As an evidence whereof, and of the plan they are pursuing, I send you a letter 
of Mr. Paine to me, printed in this city and disseminated with great industry. 
Enclosed you will receive also a production of Peter Porcupine, alias William 
Cobbett. Making allowances for the asperity of an Englishman, for some of his 
strong and coarse expressions, and a want of official information as to many 
facts, it is not a bad thing." The " many facts" were, of course, the action of 
Monroe, and the supposed action of Morris in Paris, but not even to one so 
intimate as Stuart are these disclosed. 



174 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

The editor of the Bien-informe' adds : 

" It was long believed that Paine had returned to America 
with his friend James Monroe, and the lovers of freedom [there] 
congratulated themselves on being able to embrace that illustrious 
champion of the Rights of Man. Their hopes have been frus- 
trated. We know positively that Thomas Paine is still living in 
France. The partizans of the late presidency [in America] also 
know it well, yet they have spread a rumor that after actually 
arriving he found his (really popular) principles no longer the order 
of the day, and thought best to re-embark. 

" The English journals, while repeating this idle rumor, ob- 
served that it was unfounded, and that Paine had not left France. 
Some French journals have copied these London paragraphs, but 
without comments ; so that at the very moment when Thomas 
Paine's Letter on the 18th. Fructidor is published, La Clef du 
Cabinet says that this citizen is suffering unpleasantness in 
America." 

Paine had intended to return with Monroe, in the spring 
of 1797, but, suspecting the Captain and a British cruiser in 
the distance, returned from Havre to Paris. The packet was 
indeed searched by the cruiser for Paine, and, had he been 
captured, England would have executed the sentence pro- 
nounced by Robespierre to please Washington. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 17$ 

MEMORIAL 

ADDRESSED TO JAMES MONROE, MINISTER FROM THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE FRENCH 

REPUBLIC. 

Prison of the Luxembourg, Sept. ioth, 1794. 

I ADDRESS this memorial to you, in consequence of a 
letter I received from a friend, 18 Fructidor (September 
4th,) in which he says, " Mr. Monroe has told me, that he 
has no orders [meaning from the American government] 
respecting you ; but I am sure he will leave nothing undone 
to liberate you ; but, from what I can learn, from all the 
late Americans, you are not considered either by the Gov- 
ernment, or by the individuals, as an American citizen. 
You have been made a french Citizen, which you have ac- 
cepted, and you have further made yourself a servant of the 
french Republic ; and, therefore, it would be out of charac- 
ter for an American Minister to interfere in their internal 
concerns. You must therefore either be liberated out of 
Compliment to America, or stand your trial, which you have 
a right to demand." 

This information was so unexpected by me, that I am at 
a loss how to answer it. I know not on what principle it 
originates ; whether from an idea that I had voluntarily 
abandoned my Citizenship of America for that of France, 
or from any article of the American Constitution applied to 
me. The first is untrue with respect to any intention on 
my part ; and the second is without foundation, as I shall 
shew in the course of this memorial. 

The idea of conferring honor of Citizenship upon foreign- 
ers, who had distinguished themselves in propagating the 
principles of liberty and humanity, in opposition to despot- 
ism, war, and bloodshed, was first proposed by me to La 
Fayette, at the commencement of the french revolution, 
when his heart appeared to be warmed with those princi- 
ples. My motive in making this proposal, was to render the 
people of different nations more fraternal than they had 



176 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

been, or then were. I observed that almost every branch of 
Science had possessed itself of the exercise of this right, so 
far as it regarded its own institution. Most of the Academies 
and Societies in Europe, and also those of America, con- 
ferred the rank of honorary member, upon foreigners emi- 
nent in knowledge, and made them, in fact, citizens of their 
literary or scientific republic, without affecting or anyways 
diminishing their rights of citizenship in their own country 
or in other societies : and why the Science of Government 
should not have the same advantage, or why the people of 
one nation should not, by their representatives, exercise the 
right of conferring the honor of Citizenship upon individuals 
eminent in another nation, without affecting their rights of 
citizenship, is a problem yet to be solved. 

I now proceed to remark on that part of the letter, in 
which the writer says, that, from what he can learn from 
all the late Americans, I am not considered in America, either 
by the Government or by the individuals, as an American 
citizen. 

In the first place I wish to ask, what is here meant by the 
Government of America ? The members who compose the 
Government are only individuals, when in conversation, and 
who, most probably, hold very different opinions upon the 
subject. Have Congress as a body made any declaration 
respecting me, that they now no longer consider me as a 
citizen ? If they have not, anything they otherwise say is 
no more than the opinion of individuals, and consequently is 
not legal authority, nor anyways sufficient authority to de- 
prive any man of his Citizenship. Besides, whether a man 
has forfeited his rights of Citizenship, is a question not de- 
terminable by Congress, but by a Court of Judicature and 
a Jury ; and must depend upon evidence, and the applica- 
tion of some law or article of the Constitution to the case. 
No such proceeding has yet been had, and consequently I 
remain a Citizen until it be had, be that decision what it 
may ; for there can be no such thing as a suspension of 
rights in the interim. 

I am very well aware, and always was, of the article of the 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 177 

Constitution which says, as nearly as I can recollect the words, 
that " any citizen of the United States, who shall accept any 
title, place, or office, from any foreign king, prince, or state, 
shall forfeit and lose his right of Citizenship of the United 
States." ' 

Had the Article said, that any citizen of the United States, 
who shall be a member of any foreign convention, for the 
purpose of forming a free constitution, shall forfeit and lose 
the right of citizenship of the United States, the article had 
been directly applicable to me ; but the idea of such an 
article never could have entered the mind of the American 
Convention, and the present article is altogether foreign to 
the case with respect to me. It supposes a Government in 
active existence, and not a Government dissolved ; and it 
supposes a citizen of America accepting titles and offices 
under that Government, and not a citizen of America who 
gives his assistance in a Convention chosen by the people^ 
for the purpose of forming a Government de nouveau founded 
on their authority. 

The late Constitution and Government of France was dis- 
solved the ioth of August, 1792. The National legislative 
Assembly then in being, supposed itself without sufficient 
authority to continue its sittings, and it proposed to the de- 
partments to elect not another legislative Assembly, but a 
Convention for the express purpose of forming a new Con- 
stitution. When the Assembly were discoursing on this 
matter, some of the members said, that they wished to gain 
all the assistance possible upon the subject of free constitu- 
tions ; and expressed a wish to elect and invite foreigners of 
any Nation to the Convention, who had distinguished them- 
selves in defending, explaining, and propagating the princi- 
ples of liberty. It was on this occasion that my name was 
mentioned in the Assembly. (I was then in England.) 

1 In the American pamphlet a footnote, probably added by Bache, here says : 
M Even this article does not exist in the manner here stated." It is a pity Paine 
did not have in his prison the article, which says : "No person holding any 
office of profit or trust under them [the United States] shall, without the con- 
sent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind 
whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State." — Editor. 

VOL III— 12 



178 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l794 

After this, a deputation from a body of the french people, in 
order to remove any objection that might be made against 
my assisting at the proposed Convention, requested the As- 
sembly, as their representatives, to give me the title of 
French Citizen ; after which, I was elected a member of the 
Convention, in four different departments, as is already 
known. 1 

The case, therefore, is, that I accepted nothing from any 
king, prince, or state, nor from any Government : for France 
was without any Government, except what arose from com- 
mon consent, and the necessity of the case. Neither did I 
make myself a servant of the french Republic, as the letter 
alluded to expresses ; for at that time France was not a 
republic, not even in name. She was altogether a people in 
a state of revolution. 

It was not until the Convention met that France was de- 
clared a republic, and monarchy abolished ; soon after which 
a committee was elected, of which I was a member, 3 to form 
a Constitution, which was presented to the Convention [and 
read by Condorcet, who was also a member] the 15th and 
16th of February following, but was not to be taken into 
consideration till after the expiration of two months, 3 and if 
approved of by the Convention, was then to be referred to 
the people for their acceptance, with such additions or 
amendments as the Convention should make. 

In thus employing myself upon the formation of a Consti- 
tution, I certainly did nothing inconsistent with the Ameri- 
can Constitution. I took no oath of allegiance to France, 

1 The deputation referred to was described as the " Commission Extraordi- 
naire," in whose name M. Guadet moved that the title of French Citizen be 
conferred on Priestley, Paine, Bentham, Wilberforce, Clarkson, Mackintosh, 
David Williams, Cormelle, Paw, Pestalozzi, Washington, Madison, Hamilton, 
Klopstock, Kosciusko, Gorani, Campe, Anacharsis Clootz, Gilleers. This was 
on August 26, and Paine was elected by Calais on September 6, 1792 ; and in 
the same week by Oise, Somme, and Puy-de-Dome. — Editor. 

2 Sieyes, Paine, Brissot, Petion, Vergniaud, Gensonne, Barere, Danton, Con- 
dorcet. — Editor. 

3 The remainder of this sentence is replaced in the American pamphlet by the 
following: "The disorders and the revolutionary government that took place 
after this put a stop to any further progress upon the case." — Editor. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 79 

or any other oath whatever. I considered the Citizenship 
they had presented me with as an honorary mark of respect 
paid to me not only as a friend to liberty, but as an Ameri- 
can Citizen. My acceptance of that, or of the deputyship, 
not conferred on me by any king, prince, or state, but by a 
people in a state of revolution and contending for liberty, 
required no transfer of my allegiance or of my citizenship 
from America to France. There I was a real citizen, paying 
Taxes ; here, I was a voluntary friend, employing myself on 
a temporary service. Every American in Paris knew that it 
was my constant intention to return to America, as soon as 
a constitution should be established, and that I anxiously 
waited for that event. 

I know not what opinions have been circulated in America. 
It may have been supposed there that I had voluntarily and 
intentionally abandoned America, and that my citizenship 
had ceased by my own choice. I can easily [believe] there 
are those in that country who would take such a proceeding 
on my part somewhat in disgust. The idea of forsaking old 
friendships for new acquaintances is not agreeable. I am a 
little warranted in making this supposition by a letter I re- 
ceived some time ago from the wife of one of the Georgia 
delegates in which she says " Your friends on this side the 
water cannot be reconciled to the idea of your abandoning 
America." 

I have never abandoned her in thought, word or deed ; 
and I feel it incumbent upon me to give this assurance to 
the friends I have in that country and with whom I have 
always intended and am determined, if the possibility exists, 
to close the scene of my life. It is there that I have made 
myself a home. It is there that I have given the services of 
my best days. America never saw me flinch from her cause 
in the most gloomy and perilous of her situations ; and I 
know there are those in that country who will not flinch 
from me. If I have enemies (and every man has some) I 
leave them to the enjoyment of their ingratitude.* 

* I subjoin in a note, for the sake of wasting the solitude of a prison, the 
answer that I gave to the part of the letter above mentioned. It is not inap- 



180 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1794 

It is somewhat extraordinary that the idea of my not 
being a citizen of America should have arisen only at the 
time that I am imprisoned in France because, or on the 
pretence that, I am a foreigner. The case involves a strange 
contradiction of ideas. None of the Americans who came 
to France whilst I was in liberty had conceived any such 
idea or circulated any such opinion ; and why it should arise 
now is a matter yet to be explained. However discordant 
the late American Minister G. M. [Gouverneur Morris] and 
the late French Committee of Public Safety were, it suited 
the purpose of both that I should be continued in arresta- 
tion. The former wished to prevent my return to America, 
that I should not expose his misconduct ; and the latter, lest 
I should publish to the world the history of its wickedness. 
Whilst that Minister and the Committee continued I had no 

plicable to the subject of this Memorial ; but it contains somewhat of a melan- 
choly idea, a little predictive, that I hope is not becoming true so soon. 

" You touch me on a very tender point when you say that my friends on your 
side the water cannot be reconciled to the idea of my abandoning America. 
They are right. I had rather see my horse Button eating the grass of Borden- 
Town or Morrisania than see all the pomp and show of Europe. 

" A thousand years hence (for I must indulge a few thoughts) perhaps in less, 
America may be what Europe now is. The innocence of her character, that 
won the hearts of all nations in her favour, may sound like a romance and her 
inimitable virtue as if it had never been. The ruin of that liberty which thou- 
sands bled for or struggled to obtain may just furnish materials for a village tale 
or extort a sigh from rustic sensibility, whilst the fashionable of that day, envel- 
loped in dissipation, shall deride the principle and deny the fact. 

" When we contemplate the fall of Empires and the extinction of the nations 
of the Ancient World, we see but little to excite our regret than the mouldering 
ruins of pompous palaces, magnificent museums, lofty pyramids and walls and 
towers of the most costly workmanship ; but when the Empire of America shall 
fall, the subject for contemplative sorrow will be infinitely greater than crum- 
bling brass and marble can inspire. It will not then be said, here stood a 
temple of vast antiquity ; here rose a babel of invisible height ; or there a 
palace of sumptuous extravagance ; but here, Ah, painful thought ! the noblest 
work of human wisdom, the grandest scene of human glory, the fair cause of 
Freedom rose and fell.' Read this, and then ask if I forget America." — 
Author. 

[This letter, quoted also in Paine's Letter to Washington, was written from 
London, Jan. 6, 1789, to the wife of Col. Few, nJe Kate Nicholson. It is 
given in full in my " Life of Paine," i., p. 247. — Editor. ~\ 



S 



17941 THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. l8l 

expectation of liberty. I speak here of the Committee of 
which Robespierre was member. 1 

I ever must deny, that the article of the American consti- 
tution already mentioned, can be applied either verbally, 
intentionally, or constructively, to me. It undoubtedly was 
the intention of the Convention that framed it, to preserve 
the purity of the American republic from being debased by 
foreign and foppish customs ; but it never could be its inten- 
tion to act against the principles of liberty, by forbidding its 
citizens to assist in promoting those principles in foreign 
Countries; neither could it be its intention to act against 
the principles of gratitude. 3 France had aided America in 
the establishment of her revolution, when invaded and op- 
pressed by England and her auxiliaries. France in her turn 
was invaded and oppressed by a combination of foreign 
despots. In this situation, I conceived it an act of gratitude 
in me, as a citizen of America, to render her in return the 
best services I could perform. I came to France (for I was 
in England when I received the invitation) not to enjoy 
ease, emoluments, and foppish honours, as the article sup- 

1 This and the two preceding paragraphs, including the footnote, are en- 
tirely omitted from the American pamphlet. It will be seen that Paine had now 
a suspicion of the conspiracy between Gouverneur Morris and those by whom 
he was imprisoned. Soon after his imprisonment he had applied to Morris, 
who replied that he had reclaimed him, and enclosed the letter of Deforgues 
quoted in my Introduction to this chapter, of course withholding his own letter 
to the Minister. Paine answered (Feb. 14, 1793) : " You must not leave me 
in the situation in which this letter places me. You know I do not deserve it, 
and you see the unpleasant situation in which I am thrown. I have made an 
answer to the Minister's letter, which I wish you to make ground of a reply 
to him. They have nothing against me — except that they do not choose I 
should lie in a state of freedom to write my mind freely upon things I have 
seen. Though you and I are not on terms of the best harmony, I apply to you 
as the Minister of America, and you may add to that service whatever you think 
my integrity deserves. At any rate I expect you to make Congress acquainted 
with my situation, and to send them copies of the letters that have passed on the 
subject. A reply to the Minister's letter is absolutely necessary, were it only to 
continue the reclamation. Otherwise your silence will be a sort of consent to 
his observations." Deforgues' " observations" having been dictated by Morris 
himself, no reply was sent to him, and no word to Congress. — Editor. 

2 In the pamphlet this last clause of the sentence is omitted. — Editor. 



1 82 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1794 

poses ; but to encounter difficulties and dangers in defence 
of liberty ; and I much question whether those who now 
malignantly seek (for some I believe do) to turn this to my 
injury, would have had courage to have done the same 
thing. I am sure Gouverneur Morris would not. He told 
me the second day after my arrival, (in Paris,) that the Aus- 
trians and Prussians, who were then at Verdun, would be in 
Paris in a fortnight. I have no idea, said he, that seventy 
thousand disciplined troops can be stopped in their march 
by any power in France. 

Besides the reasons I have already given for accepting the 
invitations to the Convention, I had another that has refer- 
ence particularly to America, and which I mentioned to Mr. 
Pinckney the night before I left London to come to Paris : 
" That it was to the interest of America that the system of 
European governments should be changed and placed on the 
same principle with her own." Mr. Pinckney agreed fully 
in the same opinion. I have done my part towards it. 1 

It is certain that governments upon similar systems agree 
better together than those that are founded on principles 
discordant with each other ; and the same rule holds good 
with respect to the people living under them. In the latter 
case they offend each other by pity, or by reproach ; and the 
discordancy carries itself to matters of commerce. I am not 
an ambitious man, but perhaps I have been an ambitious 
American. I have wished to see America the Mother Church 
of government, and I have done my utmost to exalt her 
character and her condition. 

I have now stated sufficient matter, to shew that the Arti- 
cle in question is not applicable to me ; and that any such 
application to my injury, as well in circumstances as in Rights, 
is contrary both to the letter and intention of that Article, 
and is illegal and unconstitutional. Neither do I believe 
that any Jury in America, when they are informed of the 
whole of the case, would give a verdict to deprive me of my 

1 In the American pamphlet the name of Pinckney (American Minister in 
England) is left blank in this paragraph, and the two concluding sentences are 
omitted from both the French and American pamphlets. — Editor. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 83 

Rights upon that Article. The citizens of America, I be- 
lieve, are not very fond of permitting forced and indirect 
explanations to be put upon matters of this kind. I know 
not what were the merits of the case with respect to the 
person who was prosecuted for acting as prize master to a 
french privateer, but I know that the jury gave a verdict 
against the prosecution. The Rights I have acquired are 
dear to me. They have been acquired by honourable means, 
and by dangerous service in the worst of times, and I can- 
not passively permit them to be wrested from me. I con- 
ceive it my duty to defend them, as the case involves a 
constitutional and public question, which is, how far the 
power of the federal government x extends, in depriving any 
citizen of his Rights of Citizenship, or of suspending them. 

That the explanation of National Treaties belongs to 
Congress is strictly constitutional ; but not the explanation 
of the Constitution itself, any more than the explanation of 
Law in the case of individual citizens. These are altogether 
Judiciary questions. It is, however, worth observing, that 
Congress, in explaining the Article of the Treaty with re- 
spect to french prizes and french privateers, confined itself 
strictly to the letter of the Article. Let them explain the 
Article of the Constitution with respect to me in the same 
manner, and the decision, did it appertain to them, could 
not deprive me of my Rights of Citizenship, or suspend them, 
for I have accepted nothing from any king, prince, state, or 
Government. 

You will please to observe, that I speak as if the federal 
Government had made some declaration upon the subject of 
my Citizenship ; whereas the fact is otherwise ; and your 
saying that you have no order respecting me is a proof of it. 
Those therefore who propagate the report of my not being 
considered as a Citizen of America by Government, do it to 
the prolongation of my imprisonment, and without author- 
ity ; for Congress, as a government, has neither decided upon 
it, nor yet taken the matter into consideration ; and I request 

1 In the pamphlet occurs here a significant parenthesis by Bache : "it should 
have been said in this case, how far the Executive." — Editor. 



1 84 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1794 

you to caution such persons against spreading such reports. 
But be these matters as they may, I cannot have a doubt 
that you find and feel the case very different, since you have 
heard what I have to say, and known what my situation is 
[better] than you did before your arrival. 

But it was not the Americans only, but the Convention 
also, that knew what my intentions were upon that subject. 
In my last discourse delivered at the Tribune of the Con- 
vention, January 19, 1793, on the motion for suspending the 
execution of Louis 16th, I said (the Deputy Bancal read the 
translation in French) : " It unfortunately happens that the 
person who is the subject of the present discussion, is con- 
sidered by the Americans as having been the friend of their 
revolution. His execution will be an affliction to them, and 
it is in your power not to wound the feelings of your ally. 
Could I speak the french language I would descend to your 
bar, and in their name become your petitioner to respite the 
execution of the sentence." — " As the convention was elected 
for the express purpose of forming a Constitution, its con- 
tinuance cannot be longer than four or five months more at 
furthest; and if, after my return to America, I should em- 
ploy myself in writing the history of the french Revolution, 
I had rather record a thousand errors on the side of mercy, 
than be obliged to tell one act of severe Justice." — "Ah 
Citizens ! give not the tyrant of England the triumph of 
seeing the man perish on a scaffold who had aided my much- 
loved America." 

Does this look as if I had abandoned America? But if 
she abandons me in the situation I am in, to gratify the 
enemies of humanity, let that disgrace be to herself. But I 
know the people of America better than to believe it, 1 tho' 
I undertake not to answer for every individual. 

When this discourse was pronounced, Marat launched 
himself into the middle of the hall and said that " I voted 
against the punishment of death because I was a quaker." 
I replied that " I voted against it both morally and politi- 
cally." 

1 In the French pamphlet : " pour jamais lui preter du tels sentiments." 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 85 

I certainly went a great way, considering the rage of the 
times, in endeavouring to prevent that execution. I had 
many reasons for so doing. I judged, and events have shewn 
that I judged rightly, that if they once began shedding blood, 
there was no knowing where it would end ; and as to what 
the world might call honour, the execution would appear 
like a nation killing a mouse ; and in a political view, would 
serve to transfer the hereditary claim to some more formida- 
ble Enemy. The man could do no more mischief ; and that 
which he had done was not only from the vice of his educa- 
tion, but was as much the fault of the Nation in restoring 
him after he had absconded June 21st, 1791, as it was his. 
I made the proposal for imprisonment until the end of the 
war and perpetual banishment after the war, instead of the 
punishment of death. Upwards of three hundred members 
voted for that proposal. The sentence for absolute death 
(for some members had voted the punishment of death con- 
ditionally) was carried by a majority of twenty-five out of 
more than seven hundred. 

I return from this digression to the proper subject of my 
memorial. 1 

Painful as the want of liberty may be, it is a consolation 
to me to believe, that my imprisonment proves to the world, 
that I had no share in the murderous system that then 
reigned. That I was an enemy to it, both morally and po- 
litically, is known to all who had any knowledge of me ; and 
could I have written french as well as I can English, I would 
publicly have exposed its wickedness and shewn the ruin 
with which it was pregnant. They who have esteemed me 
on former occasions, whether in America or in Europe will, 
I know, feel no cause to abate that esteem, when they reflect, 
that imprisonment with preservation of character is preferable 
to liberty with disgrace. 

I here close my Memorial and proceed to offer you a pro- 
posal that appears to me suited to all the circumstances of 
the case ; which is, that you reclaim me conditionally, until 

1 This and the preceding five paragraphs, and five following the next, are 
omitted from the American pamphlet. — Editor. 



1 86 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

the opinion of Congress can be obtained on the subject of 
my citizenship of America ; and that I remain in liberty 
under your protection during that time. 

I found this proposal upon the following grounds. 

First, you say you have no orders respecting me ; conse- 
quently, you have no orders not to reclaim me ; and in this 
case you are left discretionary judge whether to reclaim or 
not. My proposal therefore unites a consideration of your sit- 
uation with my own. 

Secondly, I am put in arrestation because I am a 
foreigner. It is therefore necessary to determine to what 
country I belong. The right of determining this question 
cannot appertain exclusively to the Committee of Public 
Safety or General Surety ; because I appeal to the Minister 
of the United States, and show that my citizenship of 
that country is good and valid, referring at the same time, 
thro' the agency of the Minister, my claim of right to the 
opinion of Congress. It being a matter between two 
Governments. 

Thirdly. France does not claim me for a citizen ; neither 
do I set up any claim of citizenship in France. The question 
is simply, whether I am or am not a citizen of America. I 
am imprisoned here on the decree for imprisoning foreign- 
ers, because, say they, I was born in England. I say in 
answer that, though born in England, I am not a subject of 
the English Government any more than any other American 
who was born, as they all were, under the same Govern- 
ment, or than the Citizens of France are subjects of the 
French Monarchy under which they were born. I have 
twice taken the oath of abjuration to the British King and 
Government and of Allegiance to America, — once as a citi- 
zen of the State of Pennsylvania in 1776, and again before 
Congress, administered to me by the President, Mr. Han- 
cock, when I was appointed Secretary in the Office of For- 
eign Affairs in 1777. 

The letter before quoted in the first page of this memo- 
rial, says, " It would be out of character for an American 
minister to interfere in the internal affairs of France." This 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 87 

goes on the idea that I am a citizen of France, and a mem- 
ber of the Convention, which is not the fact. The Conven- 
tion have declared me to be a foreigner ; and consequently 
the citizenship and the electon are null and void. 1 It also 
has the appearance of a Decision, that the article of the 
Constitution, respecting grants made to American Citizens 
by foreign kings, princes, or states, is applicable to me ; 
which is the very point in question, and against the applica- 
tion of which I contend. I state evidence to the Minister, 
to shew that I am not within the letter or meaning of that 
Article ; that it cannot operate against me ; and I apply to 
him for the protection that I conceive I have a right to ask 
and to receive. The internal affairs of France are out of 
the question with respect to my application or his inter- 
ference. I ask it not as a citizen of France, for I am not 
one : I ask it not as a member of the Convention, for I am 
not one ; both these, as before said, have been rendered null 
and void ; I ask it not as a man against whom there is any 
accusation, for there is none ; I ask it not as an exile from 
America, whose liberties I have honourably and generously 
contributed to establish ; I ask it as a Citizen of America, 
deprived of his liberty in France, under the plea of being a 
foreigner ; and I ask it because I conceive I am entitled to 
it, upon every principle of Constitutional Justice and Na- 
tional honour. 2 

But tho' I thus positively assert my claim because I be- 
lieve I have a right to do so, it is perhaps most eligible, in the 
present situation of things, to put that claim upon the foot- 
ing I have already mentioned; that is, that the Minister 
reclaims me conditionally until the opinion of Congress can 
be obtained on the subject of my citizenship of America, and 
that I remain in liberty under the protection of the Minister 
during that interval. 

(Signed) Thomas Paine. 

1 In the pamphlet : " The Convention included me in the vote for dismiss- 
ing foreigners from the Convention, and the Committees imprisoned me as a 
foreigner. " — Editor. 

2 All previous editions of the pamphlet end with this word. — Editor. 



1 88 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [^794 

N. B. I should have added that as Gouverneur Morris could 
not inform Congress of the cause of my arrestation, as he 
knew it not himself, it is to be supposed that Congress was 
not enough acquainted with the case to give any directions 
respecting me when you came away. 

T. P. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 89 

ADDENDA. 

Letters, hitherto unpublished, written by Paine to Monroe 
before his release on November 4., IJ94- 

1. 

Luxembourg I4em Vendemaire, 
Old Stile Oct 4th 1794 

Dear Sir : I thank you for your very friendly and 
affectionate letter of the 18th September which I did not 
receive till this morning. 1 It has relieved my mind from a 
load of disquietude. You will easily suppose that if the in- 
formation I received had been exact, my situation was with- 
out hope. I had in that case neither section, department 
nor Country, to reclaim me ; but that is not all, I felt a 
poignancy of grief, in having the least reason to suppose that 
America had so soon forgotten me who had never forgotten 
her. 

Mr. Labonadaire, in a note of yesterday, directed me to 
write to the Convention. As I suppose this measure has 
been taken in concert with you, I have requested him to 
shew you the letter, of which he will make a translation to 
accompany the original. 

(I cannot see what motive can induce them to keep me in 
prison. It will gratify the English Government and afflict 
the friends I have in America. The supporters of the system 
of Terror might apprehend that if I was in liberty and in 
America I should publish the history of their crimes, but 
the present persons who have overset that immoral System 
ought to have no such apprehension. On the contrary, they 
ought to consider me as one of themselves, at least as one 
of their friends. Had I been an insignificant character I had 
not been in arrestation. It was the literary and philosophi- 
cal reputation I had gained, in the world, that made them 

1 Printed in the letter to Washington, chap. XXII. The delay of sixteen days 
in Monroe's letter was probably due to the manoeuvres of Paine's enemies on 
the Committee of Public Safety. He was released only after their removal 
from the Committee, and the departure of Gouverneur Morris. — Editor. 



190 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i794 

my Enemies ; and I am the victim of the principles, and if I 
may be permitted to say it, of the talents, that procured 
me the esteem of America. My character is the secret of 
my arrestation.) 

If the letter I have written be not covered by other author- 
ity than my own it will have no effect, for they already know 
all that I can say. On what ground do they pretend to de- 
prive America of the service of any of her citizens without 
assigning a cause, or only the flimsy one of my being born 
in England ? Gates, were he here, might be arrested on the 
same pretence, and he and Burgoyne be confounded to- 
gether. 

It is difficult for me to give an opinion, but among other 
things that occur to me, I think that if you were to say that, 
as it will be necessary to you to inform the Government of 
America of my situation, you require an explanation with 
the Committee upon that subject ; that you are induced 
to make this proposal not only out of esteem for the charac- 
ter of the person who is the personal object of it, but because 
you know that his arrestation will distress the Americans, 
and the more so as it will appear to them to be contrary 
to their ideas of civil and national justice, it might perhaps 
have some effect. If the Committee [of Public Safety] will 
do nothing, it will be necessary to bring this matter openly 
before the Convention, for I do most sincerely assure you, 
from the observations that I hear, and I suppose the same 
are made in other places, that the character of America lies 
under some reproach. All the world knows that I have 
served her, and they see that I am still in prison ; and you 
know that when people can form a conclusion upon a simple 
fact, they trouble not themselves about reasons. I had rather 
that America cleared herself of all suspicion of ingratitude, 
though I were to be the victim. 

You advise me to have patience, but I am fully persuaded 
that the longer I continue in prison the more difficult will 
be my liberation. There are two reasons for this: the one 
is that the present Committee, by continuing so long my im- 
prisonment, will naturally suppose that my mind will be 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. I9I 

soured against them, as it was against those who put me in, 
and they will continue my imprisonment from the same 
apprehensions as the former Committee did ; the other rea- 
son is, that it is now about two months since your arrival, 
and I am still in prison. They will explain this into an in- 
difference upon my fate that will encourage them to continue 
my imprisonment. When I hear some people say that it is 
the Government of America that now keeps me in prison by 
not reclaiming me, and then pour forth a volley of execra- 
tions against her, I know not how to answer them otherwise 
than by a direct denial which they do not appear to believe. 
You will easily conclude that whatever relates to imprison- 
ments and liberations makes a topic of prison conversation ; 
and as I am now the oldest inhabitant within these walls, 
except two or three, I am often the subject of their remarks, 
because from the continuance of my imprisonment they au- 
ger ill to themselves. You see I write you every thing that 
occurs to me, and I conclude with thanking you again for 
your very friendly and affectionate letter, and am with great 
respect 

Your's affectionately, 

Thomas Paine. 

(To day is the anniversary of the action at German Town. 
[October 4, 1777.] Your letter has enabled me to contradict 
the observations before mentioned.) 

2. 

Oct 13, 1794 

Dear Sir : On the 28th of this Month (October) I shall 
have suffered ten months imprisonment, to the dishonour of 
America as well as of myself, and I speak to you very hon- 
estly when I say that my patience is exhausted. It is only 
my actual liberation that can make me believe it. Had any 
person told me that I should remain in prison two months 
after the arrival of a new Minister, I should have supposed 
that he meant to affront me as an American. By the 
friendship and sympathy you express in your letter you seem 



I92 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l794 

to consider my imprisonment as having connection only with 
myself, but I am certain that the inferences that follow from 
it have relation also to the National character of America. 
I already feel this in myself, for I no longer speak with pride 
of being a citizen of that country. Is it possible Sir that I 
should, when I am suffering unjust imprisonment under the 
very eye of her new Minister? 

While there was no Minister here (for I consider Morris as 
none) nobody wondered at my imprisonment, but now every- 
body wonders. The continuance of it under a change of 
diplomatic circumstances, subjects me to the suspicion of 
having merited it, and also to the suspicion of having for- 
feited my reputation with America ; and it subjects her at 
the same time to the suspicion of ingratitude, or to the re- 
proach of wanting national or diplomatic importance. The 
language that some Americans have held of my not being 
considered as an American citizen, tho' contradicted by 
yourself, proceeds, I believe, from no other motive, than the 
shame and dishonour they feel at the imprisonment of a 
fellow-citizen, and they adopt this apology, at my expence, 
to get rid of that disgrace. Is it not enough that I suffer 
imprisonment, but my mind also must be wounded and tor- 
tured with subjects of this kind ? Did I reason from per- 
sonal considerations only, independent of principles and the 
pride of having practiced those principles honourably, I 
should be tempted to curse the day I knew America. By 
contributing to her liberty I have lost my own, and yet her 
Government beholds my situation in silence. Wonder not, 
Sir, at the ideas I express or the language in which I express 
them. If I have a heart to feel for others I can feel also for 
myself, and if I have anxiety for my own honour, I have it 
also for a country whose suffering infancy I endeavoured to 
nourish and to which I have been enthusiastically attached. 
As to patience I have practiced it long — as long as it was 
honorable to do so, and when it goes beyond that point it 
becomes meanness. 

I am inclined to believe that you have attended to my 
imprisonment more as a friend than as a Minister. As a 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 93 

friend I thank you for your affectionate attachment. As a 
Minister you have to look beyond me to the honour and 
reputation of your Government ; and your Countrymen, who 
have accustomed themselves to consider any subject in one 
line of thinking only, more especially if it makes a strong 
[impression] upon them, as I believe my situation has made 
upon you, do not immediately see the matters that have re- 
lation to it in another line ; and it is to bring these two into 
one point that I offer you these observations. A citizen and 
his country, in a case like mine, are so closely connected that 
the case of one is the case of both. 

When you first arrived the path you had to pursue with 
respect to my liberation was simple. I was imprisoned as a 
foreigner ; you knew that foreigner to be a citizen of America, 
and you knew also his character, and as such you should im- 
mediately have reclaimed him. You could lose nothing by 
taking strong ground, but you might lose much by taking 
an inferior one ; but instead of this, which I conceive would 
have been the right line of acting, you left me in their hands 
on the loose intimation that my liberation would take place 
without your direct interference, and you strongly recom- 
mended it to me to wait the issue. This is more than seven 
weeks ago and I am still in prison. I suspect these people are 
trifling with you, and if they once believe they can do that, 
you will not easily get any business done except what they 
wish to have done. 

When I take a review of my whole situation — my circum- 
stances ruined, my health half destroyed, my person im- 
prisoned, and the prospect of imprisonment still staring me 
in the face, can you wonder at the agony of my feelings ? 
You lie down in safety and rise to plenty ; it is otherwise 
with me ; I am deprived of more than half the common 
necessaries of life ; I have not a candle to burn and cannot 
get one. Fuel can be procured only in small quantities and 
that with great difficulty and very dear, and to add to the 
rest, I am fallen into a relapse and am again on the sick list. 
Did you feel the whole force of what I suffer, and the dis- 
grace put upon America by this injustice done to one of her 

VOL III — 13 



194 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

best and most affectionate citizens, you would not, either as 
a friend or Minister, rest a day till you had procured my 
liberation. It is the work of two or three hours when you 
set heartily about it, that is, when you demand me as an 
American citizen, or propose a conference with the Commit- 
tee upon that subject ; or you may make it the work of a 
twelve-month and not succeed. I know these people better 
than you do. 

You desire me to believe that " you are placed here on a 
difficult Theatre with many important objects to attend to, 
and with but few to consult with, and that it becomes you in 
pursuit of these to regulate your conduct with respect to 
each, as to manner and time, as will in your judgment be 
best calculated to accomplish the whole." As I know not 
what these objects are I can say nothing to that point. But 
I have always been taught to believe that the liberty of a 
Citizen was the first object of all free Governments, and that 
it ought not to give preference to, or be blended with, any 
other. It is that public object that all the world can see, 
and which obtains an influence upon public opinion more 
than any other. This is not the case with the objects you 
allude to. But be those objects what they may, can you 
suppose you will accomplish them the easier by holding me 
in the back-ground, or making me only an accident in the 
negotiation ? Those with whom you confer will conclude 
from thence that you do not feel yourself very strong upon 
those points, and that you politically keep me out of sight 
in the meantime to make your approach the easier. 

There is one part in your letter that is equally as proper 
should be communicated to the Committee as to me, and 
which I conceive you are under some diplomatic obligation 
to do. It is that part which you conclude by saying that 
" to the welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans are not and 
cannot be indifferent'' As it is impossible the Americans can 
preserve their esteem for me and for my oppressors at the 
same time, the injustice to me strikes at the popular part of 
the Treaty of Alliance. If it be the wish of the Committee 
to reduce the treat}- to a mere skeleton of Government 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 95 

forms, they are taking the right method to do it, and it is 
not improbable they will blame you afterwards for not in- 
forming them upon the subject. The disposition to retort 
has been so notorious here, that you ought to be guarded 
against it at all points. 

You say in your letter that you doubt whether the gentle- 
man who informed me of the language held by some Ameri- 
cans respecting my citizenship of America conveyed even 
his own ideas clearly upon the subject. 1 I know not how 
this may be, but I believe he told me the truth. I received 
a letter a few days ago from a friend and former comrade 
of mine in which he tells me, that all the Americans he con- 
verses with, say, that I should have been in liberty long ago if 
the Minister could have reclaimed me as an American citizen. 
When I compare this with the counter-declarations in your 
letter I can explain the case no otherwise than I have al- 
ready done, that it is an apology to get rid of the shame and 
dishonour they feel at the imprisonment of an American 
citizen, and because they are not willing it should be sup- 
posed there is want of influence in the American Embassy. 
But they ought to see that this language is injurious to me. 

On the 2d of this month Vendemaire I received a line 
from Mr. Beresford in which he tells me I shall be in liberty 
in two or three days, and that he has this from good au- 
thority. On the 1 2th I received a note from Mr. Labonadaire, 
written at the Bureau of the Concierge, in which he tells 
me of the interest you take in procuring my liberation, and 
that after the steps that had been already taken that I ought 
to write to the Convention to demand my liberty ptirely and 
simply as a citizen of the United States of America. He 
advised me to send the letter to him, and he would trans- 
late it. I sent the letter inclosing at the same time a letter 
to you. I have heard nothing since of the letter to the 
Convention. On the 17th I received a letter from my for- 

1 The letter of Peter Whiteside, quoted at the beginning of the Memorial. 
See introduction to the Memorial. It would seem from this whole letter that 
it was not known by Americans in Paris that Monroe had been kept out of 
his office by Morris for nearly a month after his arrival in Paris. — Editor. 



ig6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

mer comrade Vanhuele, in which he says " I am just come 
from Mr. Russell who had yesterday a conversation with 
your Minister and your liberation is certain — you will be in 
liberty to-morrow." Vanhuele also adds, " I find the advice of 
Mr. Labonadaire good, for tho' you have some enemies in the 
Convention, the strongest and best part are in your favour." 
But the case is, and I felt it whilst I was writing the letter 
to the Convention, that there is an awkwardness in my ap- 
pearing, you being present ; for every foreigner should apply 
thro' his Minister, or rather his Minister for him. 

When I thus see day after day and month after month, 
and promise after promise, pass away without effect, what 
can I conclude but that either the Committees are secretly 
determined not to let me go, or that the measures you take 
are not pursued with the vigor necessary to give them effect ; 
or that the American National character is without sufficient 
importance in the French Republic? The latter will be 
gratifying to the English Government. In short, Sir, the 
case is now arrived to that crisis, that for the sake of your 
own reputation as a Minister you ought to require a positive 
answer from the Committee. As to myself, it is more agree- 
able to me now to contemplate an honourable destruction, 
and to perish in the act of protesting against the injustice 
I suffer, and to caution the people of America against con- 
fiding too much in the Treaty of Alliance, violated as it has 
been in every principle, and in my imprisonment though 
an American Citizen, than remain in the wretched con- 
dition I am. I am no longer of any use to the world or 
to myself. 

There was a time when I beheld the Revolution of the 
10th. Thermidor [the fall of Robespierre] with enthusiasm. 
It was the first news my comrade Vanhuele communicated 
to me during my illness, and it contributed to my recovery. 
But there is still something rotten at the Center, and the 
Enemies that I have, though perhaps not numerous, are 
more active than my friends. If I form a wrong opinion of 
men or things it is to you I must look to set me right. You 
are in possession of the secret. I know nothing of it. But 



*794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 97 

that I may be guarded against as many wants as possible I 
shall set about writing a memorial to Congress, another to 
the State of Pennsylvania, and an address to the people of 
America ; but it will be difficult for me to finish these until 
I know from yourself what applications you have made for 
my liberation, and what answers you have received. 

Ah, Sir, you would have gotten a load of trouble and 
difficulties off your hands that I fear will multiply every 
day, had you made it a point to procure my liberty when 
you first arrived, and not left me floating on the promises 
of men whom you did not know. You were then a new 
character. You had come in consequence of their own re- 
quest that Morris should be recalled ; and had you then, 
before you opened any subject of negociation that might 
arise into controversy, demanded my liberty either as a 
Civility or as a Right I see not how they could have 
refused it. 

I have already said that after all the promises that have 
been made I am still in prison. I am in the dark upon all 
the matters that relate to myself. I know not if it be to 
the Convention, to the Committee of Public Safety, of Gen- 
eral Surety, or to the deputies who come sometimes to the 
Luxembourg to examine and put persons in liberty, that 
applications have been made for my liberation. But be it 
to whom it may, my earnest and pressing request to you as 
Minister is that you will bring this matter to a conclusion 
by reclaiming me as an American citizen imprisoned in 
France under the plea of being a foreigner born in England ; 
that I may know the result, and how to prepare the Memo- 
rials I have mentioned, should there be occasion for them. 
The right of determining who are American citizens can be- 
long only to America. The Convention have declared I am 
not a French Citizen because she has declared me to be a 
foreigner, and have by that declaration cancelled and an- 
nulled the vote of the former assembly that conferred the 
Title of Citizen upon Citizens or subjects of other Countries. 
I should not be honest to you nor to myself were I not to 
express myself as I have done in this letter, and I confide 



v? 



I98 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

and request you will accept it in that sense and in no 
other. 

I am, with great respect, your suffering fellow-citizen, 

Thomas Paine. 

P. S. — If my imprisonment is to continue, and I indulge 
very little hope to the contrary, I shall be under the abso- 
lute necessity of applying to you for a supply of several ar- 
ticles. Every person here have their families or friends 
upon the spot who make provision for them. This is not 
the case with me ; I have no person I can apply to but the 
American Minister, and I can have no doubt that if events 
should prevent my repaying the expence Congress or the 
State of Pennsylvania will discharge it for me. 

To day is 22 Vendemaire Monday October 13, but you 
will not receive this letter till the 14th. I will send the 
bearer to you again on the 15th, Wednesday, and I will be 
obliged to you to send me for the present, three or four 
candles, a little sugar of any kind, and some soap for shav- 
ing ; and I should be glad at the same time to receive a line 
from you and a memorandum of the articles. Were I in 
your place I would order a Hogshead of Sugar, some boxes 
of Candles and Soap from America, for they will become 
still more scarce. Perhaps the best method for you to pro- 
cure them at present is by applying to the American Con- 
suls at Bordeaux and Havre, and have them up by the 
diligence. 

3- 

[Undated.] 

Dear Sir: As I have not yet received any answer to 
my last, I have amused myself with writing you the inclosed 
memoranda. Though you recommend patience to me I can- 
not but feel very pointedly the uncomfortableness of my 
situation, and among other reflections that occur to me I 
cannot think that America receives any credit from the long 
imprisonment that I suffer. It has the appearance of neglect- 
ing her citizens and her friends and of encouraging the in- 
sults of foreign nations upon them, and upon her commerce. 
My imprisonment is as well and perhaps more known in 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 1 99 

England than in France, and they (the English) will not be 
intimidated from molesting an American ship when they see 
that one of her best citizens (for I have a right to call myself 
so) can be imprisoned in another country at the mere discre- 
tion of a Committee, because he is a foreigner. 

When you first arrived every body congratulated me that 
I should soon, if not immediately, be in liberty. Since that 
time about two hundred have been set free from this prison 
on the applications of their sections or of individuals — and 
I am continually hurt by the observations that are made — 
" that a section in Paris has more influence than America." 

It is right that I furnish you with these circumstances. 
It is the effect of my anxiety that the character of America 
suffer no reproach ; for the world knows that I have acted 
a generous duty by her. I am the third American that has 
been imprisoned. Griffiths nine weeks, Haskins about five, 
and myself eight [months] and yet in prison. With respect 
to the two former there was then no Minister, for I consider 
Morris as none ; and they were liberated on the applications 
of the Americans in Paris. As to myself I had rather be 
publickly and honorably reclaimed, tho' the reclamation was 
refused, than remain in the uncertain situation that I am. 
Though my health has suffered my spirits are not broken. 
I have nothing to fear unless innocence and fortitude be 
crimes. America, whatever may be my fate, will have no 
cause to blush for me as a citizen ; I hope I shall have none 
to blush for her as a country. If, my dear Sir, there is any- 
thing in the perplexity of ideas I have mistaken, only sup- 
pose yourself in my situation, and you will easily find an 
excuse for it. I need not say how much I shall rejoice to 
pay my respects to you without-side the walls of this prison, 
and to enquire after my American friends. But I know that 
nothing can be accomplished here but by unceasing perse- 
verance and application. Yours affectionately. 

October 20, 1794. 

DEAR Sir : I reed, your friendly letter of the 26 Vende- 
maire on the day it was written, and I thank you for commu- 



' ' 



200 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [*794 

nicating to me your opinion upon my case. Ideas serve to 
beget ideas, and as it is from a review of every thing that can 
be said upon a subject, or is any ways connected with it, that 
the best judgment can be formed how to proceed, I present 
you with such ideas as occur to me. I am sure of one thing, 
which is that you will give them a patient and attentive 
perusal. 

You say in your letter that " I must be sensible that 
although I am an American citizen, yet if you interfere in 
my behalf as the Minister of my country you must demand 
my liberation only in case there be no charge against me ; 
and that if there is I must be brought to trial prev- 
iously, since no person in a private character can be exempt 
from the laws of the country in which he resides." — This 
is what I have twice attempted to do. I wrote a letter on 
the 3d Sans Culottodi x to the Deputies, members of the 
Committee of Surety General, who came to the Luxem- 
bourg to examine the persons detained. The letter was as 
follows : — " Citizens Representatives : I offer myself for ex- 
amination. Justice is due to every Man. It is Justice only 
that I ask. — Thomas Paine." 

As I was not called for examination, nor heard anything 
in consequence of my letter the first time of sending it, I 
sent a duplicate of it a few days after. It was carried to 
them by my good friend and comrade Vanhuele, who was 
then going in liberty, having been examined the day before. 
Vanhuele wrote me on the next day and said : " Bourdon de 
l'Oise [who was one of the examining Deputies] is the most 
inveterate enemy you can have. The answer he gave me 
when I presented your letter put me in such a passion with 
him that I expected I should be sent back again to prison." 
I then wrote a third letter but had not an opportunity 
of sending it, as Bourdon did not come any more till after I 
received Mr. Labonadaire's letter advising me to write to 
the Convention. The letter was as follows : — " Citizens, I 
have twice offered myself for examination, and I chose to do 
this while Bourdon de l'Oise was one of the Commissioners. 

1 Festival of Labour, September 19, 1794. — Editor. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 201 

This Deputy has said in the Convention that I intrigued 
with an ancient agent of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs. My 
examination therefore while he is present will give him an 
opportunity of proving his charge or of convincing himself 
of his error. If Bourdon de l'Oise is an honest man he will 
examine me, but lest he should not I subjoin the following. 
That which B[ourdon] calls an intrigue was at the request of 
a member of the former Committee of Salut Public, last 
August was a twelvemonth. I met the member on the 
Boulevard. He asked me something in French which I did 
not understand and we went together to the Bureau of 
Foreign Affairs which was near at hand. The Agent (Otto, 
whom you probably knew in America) served as interpreter, 
The member (it was Barere) then asked me 1st, If I could 
furnish him with the plan of Constitution I had presented 
to the Committee of Constitution of which I was member 
with himself, because, he said, it contained several things 
which he wished had been adopted : 2dly, He asked me my 
opinion upon sending Commissioners to the United States 
of America : 3dly, If fifty or an hundred ship loads of flour 
could be procured from America. As verbal interpretation 
was tedious, it was agreed that I should give him my opinion 
in writing, and that the Agent [Otto] should translate it, 
which he did. I answered the first question by sending him 
the plan [of a Constitution] which he still has. To the 
second, I replied that I thought it would be proper to send 
Commissioners, because that in Revolutions circumstances 
change so fast that it was often necessary to send a better 
supply of information to an Ally than could be communi- 
cated by writing ; and that Congress had done the same 
thing during the American War ; and I gave him some in- 
formation that the Commissioners would find useful on their 
arrival. I answered the third question by sending him a list 
of American exports two years before, distinguishing the 
several articles by which he would see that the supply he 
mentioned could be obtained. I sent him also the plan of 
Paul Jones, giving it as his, for procuring salt-petre, which 
was to send a squadron (it did not require a large one) to 






202 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [^794 



take possession of the Island of St. Helen's, to keep the 
English flag flying at the port, that the English East India 
ships coming from the East Indies, and that ballast with 
salt-petre, might be induced to enter as usual ; And that it 
would be a considerable time before the English Government 
could know of what had happened at St. Helen's. See here 
what Bourdon de l'Oise has called an intrigue. — If it was an 
intrigue it was between a Committee of Salut Public and 
myself, for the Agent was no more than the interpreter and 
translator, and the object of the intrigue was to furnish 
France with flour and salt-petre." — I suppose Bourdon 
had heard that the agent and I were seen together talking 
English, and this was enough for him, to found his charge 
upon. 1 

You next say that " I must likewise be sensible that 
although I am an American citizen that it is likewise be- 
lieved there [in America] that I am become a citizen of 
France, and that in consequence this latter character has so 
far [illegible] the former as to weaken if not destroy any 
claim you might have to interpose in my behalf." I am 
sorry I cannot add any new arguments to those I have 
already advanced on this part of the subject. But I cannot 
help asking myself, and I wish you would ask the Commit- 
tee, if it could possibly be the intention of France to kidnap 
citizens from America under the pretence of dubbing them 
with the title of French citizens, and then, after inviting or 
rather enveigling them into France, make it a pretence for 
detaining them ? If it was, (which I am sure it was not, 
tho' they now act as if it was) the insult was to America, 
tho' the injury was to me, and the treachery was to both. 

1 The communications of Paine to Barere are given in my " Life of Paine, " vol. 
ii., pp. 73, 87. Otto was Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs when he 
acted as interpreter between Paine and Barere. There was never any charge 
at all made against Paine, as the Archives of France now prove, save that he 
was a " foreigner." Paine was of course ignorant of the conspiracy between 
Morris and Deforgues which had imprisoned him. Bourdon de l'Oise, one of 
the most cruel Jacobins and Terrorists, aftenvards conspired with Pichegru to 
overthrow the Republic, and was with him banished (1797) to Sinamari, South 
America, where he died soon after his arrival. — Editor. 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 203 

Did they mean to kidnap General Washington, Mr. Madi- 
son, and several other Americans whom they dubbed with 
the same title as well as me ? Let any man look at the con- 
dition of France when I arrived in it, — invaded by Austrians 
and Prussians and declared to be in danger, — and then ask 
if any man who had a home and a country to go to, as I had 
in America, would have come amongst them from any other 
motive than of assisting them. If I could possibly have 
supposed them capable of treachery I certainly would not 
have trusted myself in their power. Instead therefore of 
your being unwilling or apprehensive of meeting the ques- 
tion of French citizenship, they ought to be ashamed of 
advancing it, and this will be the case unless you admit their 
arguments or objections too passively. It is a case on their 
part fit only for the continuations of Robespierre to set up. 
As to the name of French citizen, I never considered it in 
any other light, so far as regarded myself, than as a token 
of honorary respect. I never made them any promise nor 
took any oath of allegiance or of citizenship, nor bound my- 
self by an act or means whatever to the performance of any 
thing. I acted altogether as a friend invited among them as 
I supposed on honorable terms. I did not come to join 
myself to a Government already formed, but to assist in form- 
ing one de nouveau, which was afterwards to be submitted to 
the people whether they would accept it or not, and this 
any foreigner might do. And strictly speaking there are no 
citizens before this is a government. They are all of the 
People. The Americans were not called citizens till after 
Government was established, and not even then until they 
had taken the oath of allegiance. This was the case in 
Pennsylvania. But be this French citizenship more or less, 
the Convention have swept it away by declaring me to be a 
foreigner, and imprisoning me as such ; and this is a short 
answer to all those who affect to say or to believe that I am 
French Citizen. A Citizen without Citizenship is a term 
non-descript. 

After the two preceeding paragraphs you ask — " If it be 
my wish that you should embark in this controversy (mean- 



204 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i794 

ing that of reclaiming me) and risque the consequences with 
respect to myself and the good understanding subsisting 
between the two countries, or, without relinquishing any 
point of right, and which might be insisted on in case of 
extremities, pursue according to your best judgment and 
with the light before you, the object of my liberation ? M 

As I believe from the apparent obstinacy of the Commit- 
tees that circumstances will grow towards the extremity you 
mention, unless prevented beforehand, I will endeavour to 
throw into your hands all the lights I can upon the subject. 

In the first place, reclamation may mean two distinct 
things. All the reclamations that are made by the sections 
in behalf of persons detained as suspect are made on the 
ground that the persons so detained are patriots, and the 
reclamation is good against the charge of " suspect " because 
it proves the contrary. But my situation includes another 
circumstance. I am imprisoned on the charge (if it can be 
called one) of being a foreigner born in England. You 
know that foreigner to be a citizen of the United States of 
America, and that he has been such since the 4th of July 
1776, the political birthday of the United States, and of 
every American citizen, for before that period all were 
British subjects, and the States, then provinces, were British 
dominions. — Your reclamation of me therefore as a citizen 
of the United States (all other considerations apart) is good 
against the pretence for imprisoning me, or that pretence is 
equally good against every American citizen born in Eng- 
land, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, or Holland, and you know 
this description of men compose a very great part of the 
population of the three States of New York, New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania, and make also a part of Congress, and of 
the State Legislatures. 

Every politician ought to know, and every civilian does 
know, that the Law of Treaty of Alliance, and also that of 
Amity and Commerce knows no distinction of American 
Citizens on account of the place of their birth, but recognizes 
all to be Citizens whom the Constitution and laws of the 
United States of America recognize as such ; and if I rec- 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 205 

ollect rightly there is an article in the Treaty of Commerce 
particular to this point. The law therefore which they have 
here, to put all persons in arrestation born in any of the 
Countries at war with France, is, when applied to Citizens of 
America born in England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, or 
holland, a violation of the treaties of Alliance and of Com- 
merce, because it assumes to make a distinction of Citizens 
which those Treaties and the Constitution of America know 
nothing of. This is a subject that officially comes under 
your cognizance as Minister, and it would be consistent that 
you expostulated with them upon the Case. That foolish 
old man Vadier, who was president of the Convention and 
of the Committee of Surety general when the Americans 
then in Paris went to the Bar of the Convention to reclaim 
me, gave them for answer that my being born in England 
was cause sufficient for imprisoning me. It happened that 
at least half those who went up with that address were in 
the same case with myself. 

As to reclamations on the ground of Patriotism it is diffi- 
cult to know what is to be understood by Patriotism here. 
There is not a vice, and scarcely a virtue, that has not as 
the fashion of the moment suited been called by the name 
of Patriotism. The wretches who composed the revolution- 
ary tribunal of Nantz were the Patriots of that day and the 
criminals of this. The Jacobins called themselves Patriots 
of the first order, men up to the height of the circum- 
stances, and they are now considered as an antidote to 
Patriotism. But if we give to Patriotism a fixed idea con- 
sistent with that of a Republic, it would signify a strict adhe- 
rence to the principles of Moral Justice, to the equality of 
civil and political Rights, to the System of representative 
Government, and an opposition to every hereditary claim to 
govern ; and of this species of Patriotism you know my 
character. But, Sir, there are men on the Committee who 
have changed their Party but not their principles. Their 
aim is to hold power as long as possible by preventing the 
establishment of a Constitution, and these men are and will 
be my Enemies, and seek to hold me in prison as long as 



206 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i794 

they can. I am too good a Patriot for them. It is not im- 
probable that they have heard of the strange language held 
by some Americans that I am not considered in America as 
an American citizen, and they may also have heard say, that 
you had no orders respecting me, and it is not improbable 
that they interpret that language and that silence into a 
connivance at my imprisonment. If they had not some 
ideas of this kind would they resist so long the civil efforts 
you make for my liberation, or would they attach so much 
importance to the imprisonment of an Individual as to risque 
(as you say to me) the good under standiitg that exists between 
the two Countries ? You also say that it is impossible for any 
person to do more than you have done without adopting the 
other means, meaning that of reclaiming me. How then can 
you account for the want of success after so many efforts, 
and such a length of time, upwards of ten weeks, without 
supposing that they fortify themselves in the interpretation 
I have just mentioned ? I can admit that it was not neces- 
sary to give orders, and that it was difficult to give direct 
orders, for I much question if Morris had informed Congress 
or the President of the whole of the case, or had sent copies 
of my letters to him as I had desired him to do. You would 
find the case here when you came, and you could not fully 
understand it till you did come, and as Minister you would 
have authority to act upon it. But as you inform me that 
you know what the wishes of the President are, you will see 
also that his reputation is exposed to some risque, admitting 
there to be ground for the supposition I have made. It will 
not add to his popularity to have it believed in America, as 
I am inclined to think the Committee believe here, that he 
connives at my imprisonment. You say also that it is known 
to everybody that you wish my liberation. It is, Sir, because 
they know your wishes that they misinterpret the means you 
use. They suppose that those mild means arise from a 
restriction that you cannot use others, or from a conscious- 
ness of some defect on my part of which you are unwilling 
to provoke the enquiry. 

But as you ask me if it be my wish that you should em- 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 2QJ 

bark in this controversy and risque the consequences with 
respect to myself, I will answer this part of the question by 
marking out precisely the part I wish you to take. What I 
mean is a sort of middle line above what you have yet gone, 
and not up to the full extremity of the case, which will still 
lie in reserve. It is to write a letter to the Committee that 
shall in the first place defeat by anticipation all the objec- 
tions they might make to a simple reclamation, and at the 
same time make the ground good for that object. But, in- 
stead of sending the letter immediately, to invite some of 
the Committee to your house and to make that invitation 
the opportunity of shewing them the letter, expressing at 
the same time a wish that you had done this, from a hope 
that the business might be settled in an amicable manner 
without your being forced into an official interference, that 
would excite the observations of the Enemies of both Coun- 
tries, and probably interrupt the harmony that subsisted be- 
tween the two republics. But as I can not convey the ideas 
I wish you to use by any means so concisely or so well as to 
suppose myself the writer of the letter I shall adopt this 
method and you will make use of such parts or such ideas 
of it as you please if you approve the plan. Here follows 
the supposed letter : 

Citizens : When I first arrived amongst you as Minister 
from the United States of America I was given to under- 
stand that the liberation of Thomas Paine would take place 
without any official interference on my part. This was the 
more agreeable to me as it would not only supercede the 
necessity of that interference, but would leave to yourselves 
the whole opportunity of doing justice to a man who as far 
as I have been able to learn has suffered much cruel treat- 
ment under what you have denominated the system of Ter- 
ror. But as I find my expectations have not been fulfilled I 
am under the official necessity of being more explicit upon 
the subject than I have hitherto been. 

Permit me, in the first place, to observe that as it is im- 
possible for me to suppose that it could have been the 



208 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1794 

intention of France to seduce any citizens of America from 
their allegiance to their proper country by offering them the 
title of French citizen, so must I be compelled to believe, 
that the title of French citizen conferred on Thomas Paine 
was intended only as a mark of honorary respect towards a 
man who had so eminently distinguished himself in defence 
of liberty, and on no occasion more so than in promoting 
and defending your own revolution. For a proof of this I 
refer you to his two works entitled Rights of Man. Those 
works have procured to him an addition of esteem in 
America, and I am sorry they have been so ill rewarded in 
France. But be this title of French Citizen more or less, it 
is now entirely swept away by the vote of the Convention 
which declares him to be a foreigner, and which supercedes 
the vote of the Assembly that conferred that title upon 
him, consequently upon the case superceded with it. 

In consequence of this vote of the Convention declaring 
him to be a foreigner the former Committees have impris- 
oned him. It is therefore become my official duty to declare 
to you that the foreigner thus imprisoned is a citizen of the 
United States of America as fully, as legally, as constitu- 
tionally as myself, and that he is moreover one of the princi- 
pal founders of the American Republic. 

I have been informed of a law or decree of the Convention 
which subjects foreigners born in any of the countries at war 
with France to arrestation and imprisonment. This law 
when applied to citizens of America born in England is an 
infraction of the Treaty of Alliance and of Amity and Com- 
merce, which knows no distinction of American citizens on 
account of the place of their birth, but recognizes all to be 
citizens whom the Constitution and laws of America recog- 
nize as such. The circumstances under which America has 
been peopled requires this guard on her Treaties, because 
the mass of her citizens are composed not of natives only 
but also of the natives of almost all the countries of Europe 
who have sought an asylum there from the persecutions 
they experienced in their own countries. After this intima- 
tion you will without doubt see the propriety of modelling 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 209 

that law to the principles of the Treaty, because the law of 
Treaty in cases where it applies is the governing law to both 
parties alike, and it cannot be infracted without hazarding 
the existence of the Treaty. 

Of the Patriotism of Thomas Paine I can speak fully, if 
we agree to give to patriotism a fixed idea consistent with 
that of a republic. It would then signify a strict adherence 
to Moral Justice, to the equality of civil and political 
rights, to the system of representative government, and an 
opposition to all hereditary claims to govern. Admitting 
patriotism to consist in these principles, I know of no man 
who has gone beyond Thomas Paine in promulgating and 
defending them, and that for almost twenty years past. 

I have now spoken to you on the principal matters con- 
cerned in the case of Thomas Paine. The title of French 
citizen which you had enforced upon him, you have since 
taken away by declaring him to be a foreigner, and conse- 
quently this part of the subject ceases of itself. I have de- 
clared to you that this foreigner is a citizen of the United 
States of America, and have assured you of his patriotism. 

I cannot help at the same time repeating to you my wish 
that his liberation had taken place without my being obliged 
to go thus far into the subject, because it is the mutual in- 
terest of both republics to avoid as much as possible all sub- 
jects of controversy, especially those from which no possible 
good can flow. I still hope that you will save me the 
unpleasant task of proceeding any farther by sending me an 
order for his liberation, which the injured state of his health 
absolutely requires. I shall be happy to receive such an 
order from you and happy in presenting it to him, for to the 
welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans are not and cannot 
be indifferent. 

This is the sort of letter I wish you to write, for I have no 
idea that you will succeed by any measures that can, by any 
kind of construction, be interpreted into a want of confi- 
dence or an apprehension of consequences. It is themselves 
that ought to be apprehensive of consequences if any are to 
be apprehended. They, I mean the Committees, are not cer- 



210 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i794 

tain that the Convention or the nation would support them 
in forcing any question to extremity that might interrupt 
the good understanding subsisting between the two coun- 
tries ; and I know of no question [so likely] to do this as 
that which involves the rights and liberty of a citizen. 

You will please to observe that I have put the case of 
French citizenship in a point of view that ought not only to 
preclude, but to make them ashamed to advance any thing 
upon this subject ; and this is better than to have to answer 
their counter-reclamation afterwards. Either the Citizenship 
was intended as a token of honorary respect, or it was in- 
tended to deprive America of a citizen or to seduce him from 
his allegiance to his proper country. If it was intended as 
an honour they must act consistently with the principle of 
honour. But if they make a pretence for detaining me, they 
convict themselves of the act of seduction. Had America 
singled out any particular French citizen, complimented him 
with the title of Citizen of America, which he without sus- 
pecting any fraudulent intention might accept, and then after 
having invited or rather inveigled him into America made 
his acceptance of that Title a pretence for seducing or forcing 
him from his allegiance to France, would not France have 
just cause to be offended at America ? And ought not 
America to have the same right to be offended at France ? 
And will the Committees take upon themselves to answer for 
the dishonour they bring upon the National Character of 
their Country ? If these arguments are stated beforehand 
they will prevent the Committees going into the subject of 
French Citizenship. They must be ashamed of it. But 
after all the case comes to this, that this French Citizenship 
appertains no longer to me because the Convention, as I 
have already said, have swept it away by declaring me to be 
foreigner, and it is not in the power of the Committees to 
reverse it. But if I am to be citizen and foreigner, and citi- 
zen again, just when and how and for any purpose they 
please, they take the Government of America into their own 
hands and make her only a Cypher in their system. 

Though these ideas have been long with me they have been 



1794] THE MEMORIAL TO MONROE. 211 

more particularly matured by reading your last Communica- 
tion, and I have many reasons to wish you had opened that 
Communication sooner. I am best acquainted with the per- 
sons you have to deal with and the circumstances of my own 
case. If you chuse to adopt the letter as it is, I send you a 
translation for the sake of expediting the business. I have 
endeavoured to conceive your own manner of expression as 
well as I could, and the civility of language you would use, 
but the matter of the letter is essential to me. 

If you chuse to confer with some of the members of the 
Committee at your own house on the subject of the letter it 
may render the sending it unnecessary ; but in either case I 
must request and press you not to give away to evasion and 
delay, and that you will fix positively with them that they 
shall give you an answer in three or four days whether they 
will liberate me on the representation you have made in the 
letter, or whether you must be forced to go further into the 
subject. The state of my health will not admit of delay, 
and besides the tortured state of my mind wears me down. 
If they talk of bringing me to trial (and I well know there 
is no accusation against me and that they can bring none) I 
certainly summons you as an Evidence to my Character. 
This you may mention to them either as what I intend to do 
or what you intend to do voluntarily for me. 

I am anxious that you undertake this business without 
losing time, because if I am not liberated in the course of 
this decade, I intend, if in case the seventy-one detained 
deputies are liberated, to follow the same track that they 
have done, and publish my own case myself. 1 I cannot rest 
any longer in this state of miserable suspense, be the conse- 
quences what they may. 

Thomas Paine. 

1 Those deputies, imprisoned for having protested against the overthrow of 
the Girondin government, May 31, 1793, when the Convention was invaded and 
overawed by the armed communes of Paris. These deputies were liberated and 
recalled to the Convention, December 8, 1794. Paine was invited to resume his 
seat the day before, by a special act of the Convention, after an eloquent 
speech by Thibaudeau. — Editor. 



212 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l794 

5-' 

Dear Sir : I need not mention to you the happiness I 
received from the information you sent me by Mr. Beresford. 
I easily guess the persons you have conversed with on the 
subject of my liberation — but matters and even promises 
that pass in conversation are not quite so strictly attended 
to here as in the Country you come from. I am not, my 
Dear Sir, impatient from any thing in my disposition, but 
the state of my health requires liberty and a better air ; and 
besides this, the rules of the prison do not permit me, though 
I have all the indulgences the Concierge can give, to pro- 
cure the things necessary to my recovery, which is slow as 
to strength. I have a tolerable appetite but the allowance 
of provision is scanty. We are not allowed a knife to cut 
our victuals with, nor a razor to shave ; but they have lately 
allowed some barbers that are here to shave. The room 
where I am lodged is a ground floor level with the earth in 
the garden and floored with brick, and is so wet after every 
rain that I cannot guard against taking colds that continually 
cheat my recovery. If you could, without interfering with 
or deranging the mode proposed for my liberation, inform 
the Committee that the state of my health requires liberty 
and air, it would be good ground to hasten my liberation. 
The length of my imprisonment is also a reason, for I am 
now almost the oldest inhabitant of this uncomfortable 
mansion, and I see twenty, thirty and * sometimes forty 
persons a day put in liberty who have not been so long 
confined as myself. Their liberation is a happiness to me ; 
but I feel sometimes, a little mortification that I am thus 
left behind. I leave it entirely to you to arrange this matter. 
The messenger waits. Your's affectionately, T. P. 

I hope and wish much to see you. I have much to say. 
I have had the attendance of Dr. Graham (Physician to 
Genl. O'Hara, who is prisoner here) and of Dr. Makouski, 
house physician, who has been most exceedingly kind to me. 
After I am at liberty I shall be glad to introduce him to you. 

1 This letter, written in a feeble handwriting, is not dated, but Monroe's en- 
dorsement, " 2d. Luxembourg," indicates November 2, two days before Paine's 
liberation. — Editor. 



XXII. 
LETTER TO GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Paris, July 30, 1796. 

As censure is but awkwardly softened by apology, I shall 
offer you no apology for this letter. The eventful crisis to 
which your double politics have conducted the affairs of 
your country, requires an investigation uncramped by 
ceremony. 

There was a time when the fame of America, moral and 
political, stood fair and high in the world. The lustre of her 
revolution extended itself to every individual ; and to be a 
citizen of America gave a title to respect in Europe. Neither 
meanness nor ingratitude had been mingled in the composi- 
tion of her character. Her resistance to the attempted 
tyranny of England left her unsuspected of the one, and her 
open acknowledgment of the aid she received from France 
precluded all suspicion of the other. The Washington of 
politics had not then appeared. 

At the time I left America (April 1787) the Continental 
Convention, that formed the federal Constitution was on the 
point of meeting. Since that time new schemes of politics, 
and new distinctions of parties, have arisen. The term 
Antifederalist has been applied to all those who combated 
the defects of that constitution, or opposed the measures of 
your administration. It was only to the absolute necessity 
of establishing some federal authority, extending equally 
over all the States, that an instrument so inconsistent as the 
present federal Constitution is, obtained a suffrage. I would 
have voted for it myself, had I been in America, or even for 
a worse, rather than have had none, provided it contained the 



214 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

means of remedying its defects by the same appeal to the 
people by which it was to be established. It is always better 
policy to leave removeable errors to expose themselves, than 
to hazard too much in contending against them theoretically. 
I have introduced these observations, not only to mark the 
general difference between Antifederalist and Anti-constitu- 
tionalist, but to preclude the effect, and even the application, 
of the former of these terms to myself. I declare myself 
opposed to several matters in the Constitution, particularly 
to the manner in which what is called the Executive is 
formed, and to the long duration of the Senate ; and if I live 
to return to America, I will use all my endeavours to have 
them altered.* I also declare myself opposed to almost the 
whole of your administration ; for I know it to have been 
deceitful, if not perfidious, as I shall shew in the course of 
this letter. But as to the point of consolidating the States 
into a Federal Government, it so happens, that the proposi- 
tion for that purpose came originally from myself. I pro- 
posed it in a letter to Chancellor Livingston in the spring of 
1782, while that gentleman was Minister for Foreign Affairs. 
The five per cent, duty recommended by Congress had then 
fallen through, having been adopted by some of the States, 
altered by others, rejected by Rhode Island, and repealed by 
Virginia after it had been consented to. The proposal in the 
letter I allude to, was to get over the whole difficulty at 
once, by annexing a continental legislative body to Congress ; 
for in order to have any law of the Union uniform, the case 
could only be, that either Congress, as it then stood, must 
frame the law, and the States severally adopt it without 
alteration, or the States must erect a Continental Legislature 
for the purpose. Chancellor Livingston, Robert Morris, 
Gouverneur Morris, and myself, had a meeting at the house 
of Robert Morris on the subject of that letter. There was 
no diversity of opinion on the proposition for a Continental 

* I have always been opposed to the mode of refining Government up to an 
individual, or what is called a single Executive. Such a man will always be the 
chief of a party. A plurality is far better : It combines the mass of a nation 
better together: And besides this, it is necessary to the manly mind of a republic 
that it loses the debasing idea of obeying an individual. — Author. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 21 5 

Legislature : the only difficulty was on the manner of bring- 
ing the proposition forward. For my own part, as I consid- 
ered it as a remedy in reserve, that could be applied at any 
time when the States saw themselves wrong enough to be put 
right, (which did not appear to be the case at that time) I 
did not see the propriety of urging it precipitately, and 
declined being the publisher of it myself. After this account 
of a fact, the leaders of your party will scarcely have the 
hardiness to apply to me the term of Antifederalist. But I 
can go to a date and to a fact beyond this ; for the proposi- 
tion for electing a continental convention to form the Conti- 
nental Government is one of the subjects treated of in the 
pamphlet Common Sense. 1 

Having thus cleared away a little of the rubbish that might 
otherwise have lain in my way, I return to the point of time 
at which the present Federal Constitution and your adminis- 
tration began. It was very well said by an anonymous 
writer in Philadelphia, about a year before that period, that 
" thirteen staves and ne'er a hoop will not make a barrel," and 
as any kind of hooping the barrel, however defectively exe- 
cuted, would be better than none, it was scarcely possible 
but that considerable advantages must arise from the federal 
hooping of the States. It was with pleasure that every sin- 
cere friend of America beheld, as the natural effect of union, 
her rising prosperity ; and it was with grief they saw that 
prosperity mixed, even in the blossom, with the germ of 
corruption. Monopolies of every kind marked your admin- 
istration almost in the moment of its commencement. The 
lands obtained by the revolution were lavished upon parti- 
sans ; the interest of the disbanded soldier was sold to the 
speculator ; injustice was acted under the pretence of faith ; 
and the chief of the army became the patron of the fraud. 2 
From such a beginning what else could be expected, than 

1 See vol. i. of this work, pp. 97, 98, 109, no. — Editor. 

2 The history of the Scioto Company, by which so many Frenchmen as well 
as Americans were ruined, warranted an even stronger statement. Though 
Washington did not know what was going on, he cannot be acquitted of a lack 
of due precaution in patronizing leading agents of these speculations, and in- 
troducing them in France. — Editor. 



2l6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

what has happened ? A mean and servile submission to the 
insults of one nation ; treachery and ingratitude to another. 

Some vices make their approach with such a splendid 
appearance, that we scarcely know to what class of moral 
distinctions they belong. They are rather virtues corrupted 
than vices, originally. But meanness and ingratitude have 
nothing equivocal in their character. There is not a trait in 
them that renders them doubtful. They are so originally 
vice, that they are generated in the dung of other vices, and 
crawl into existence with the filth upon their back. The 
fugitives have found protection in you, and the levee-room 
is their place of rendezvous. 

As the Federal Constitution is a copy, though not quite 
so base as the original, of the form of the British Govern- 
ment, an imitation of its vices was naturally to be expected. 
So intimate is the connection between form and practice, 
that to adopt the one is to invite the other. Imitation is 
naturally progressive, and is rapidly so in matters that are 
vicious. 

Soon after the Federal Constitution arrived in England, I 
received a letter from a female literary correspondent (a 
native of New York) very well mixed with friendship, senti- 
ment, and politics. In my answer to that letter, I permitted 
myself to ramble into the wilderness of imagination, and to 
anticipate what might hereafter be the condition of America. 
I had no idea that the picture I then drew was realizing so 
fast, and still less that Mr. Washington was hurrying it on. 
As the extract I allude to is congenial with the subject I am 
upon, I here transcribe it : 

[ The extract is the same as that given in a footnote ; in t/ie 
Memorial to Monroe, p. 1 80.] 

Impressed, as I was, with apprehensions of this kind, I 
had America constantly in my mind in all the publications I 
afterwards made. The First, and still more the Second, 
Part of the Rights of Man, bear evident marks of this watch- 
fulness ; and the Dissertation on First Principles of Govern- 
ment [XXIV.] goes more directly to the point than either 
of the former. I now pass on to other subjects. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 2\f 

It will be supposed by those into whose hands this letter 
may fall, that I have some personal resentment against you ; 
I will therefore settle this point before I proceed further. 

If I have any resentment, you must acknowledge that I 
have not been hasty in declaring it ; neither would it now 
be declared (for what are private resentments to the public) 
if the cause of it did not unite itself as well with your public 
as with your private character, and with the motives of your 
political conduct. 

The part I acted in the American revolution is well known ; 
I shall not here repeat it. I know also that had it not been 
for the aid received from France, in men, money and ships, 
that your cold and unmilitary conduct (as I shall shew in 
the course of this letter) would in all probability have lost 
America ; at least she would not have been the independent 
nation she now is. You slept away your time in the field, 
till the finances of the country were completely exhausted, 
and you have but little share in the glory of the final event. 
It is time, sir, to speak the undisguised language of histori- 
cal truth. 

Elevated to the chair of the Presidency, you assumed the 
merit of every thing to yourself, and the natural ingratitude 
of your constitution began to appear. You commenced 
your Presidential career by encouraging and swallowing the 
grossest adulation, and you travelled America from one end 
to the other to put yourself in the way of receiving it. You 
have as many addresses in your chest as James the II. As 
to what were your views, for if you are not great enough to 
have ambition you are little enough to have vanity, they 
cannot be directly inferred from expressions of your own ; 
but the partizans of your politics have divulged the secret. 

John Adams has said, (and John it is known was always a 
speller after places and offices, and never thought his little 
services were highly enough paid,) — John has said, that as 
Mr. Washington had no child, the Presidency should be 
made hereditary in the family of Lund Washington. John 
might then have counted upon some sinecure himself, and a 
provision for his descendants. He did not go so far as to 



2l8 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

say, also, that the Vice-Presidency should be hereditary in 
the family of John Adams. He prudently left that to stand 
on the ground that one good turn deserves another.* 

John Adams is one of those men who never contemplated 
the origin of government, or comprehended any thing of first 
principles. If he had, he might have seen, that the right to 
set up and establish hereditary government, never did, and 
never can, exist in any generation at any time whatever; 
that it is of the nature of treason ; because it is an attempt 
to take away the rights of all the minors living at that time, 
and of all succeeding generations. It is of a degree beyond 
common treason. It is a sin against nature. The equal 
right of every generation is a right fixed in the nature of 
things. It belongs to the son when of age, as it belonged to 
the father before him. John Adams would himself deny 
the right that any former deceased generation could have to 
decree authoritatively a succession of governors over him, 
or over his children ; and yet he assumes the pretended 
right, treasonable as it is, of acting it himself. His ignorance 
is his best excuse. 

John Jay has said, (and this John was always the syco- 
phant of every thing in power, from Mr. Girard in America, 
to Grenville in England,) — John Jay has said, that the 
Senate should have been appointed for life. He would 
then have been sure of never wanting a lucrative appoint- 
ment for himself, and have had no fears about impeach- 
ment. These are the disguised traitors that call themselves 
Federalists.f 

Could I have known to what degree of corruption and 
perfidy the administrative part of the government of America 
had descended, I could have been at no loss to have under- 
stood the reservedness of Mr. Washington towards me, 
during my imprisonment in the Luxembourg. There are 
cases in which silence is a loud language. I will here explain 

* Two persons to whom John Adams said this, told me of it. The secretary 
of Mr. Jay was present when it was told to me. — Author. 

\ If Mr. John Jay desires to know on what authority I say this, I will give 
that authority publicly when he chooses to call for it. — Author. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 219 

the cause of that imprisonment, and return to Mr. Washing- 
ton afterwards. 

In the course of that rage, terror and suspicion, which the 
brutal letter of the Duke of Brunswick first started into ex- 
istence in France, it happened that almost every man who 
was opposed to violence, or who was not violent himself, 
became suspected. I had constantly been opposed to every 
thing which was of the nature or of the appearance of vio- 
lence ; but as I had always done it in a manner that shewed 
it to be a principle founded in my heart, and not a political 
manoeuvre, it precluded the pretence of accusing me. I was 
reached, however, under another pretence. 

A decree was passed to imprison all persons born in Eng- 
land ; but as I was a member of the Convention, and had 
been complimented with the honorary style of Citizen of 
France, as Mr. Washington and some other Americans had 
been, this decree fell short of reaching me. A motion was 
afterwards made and carried, supported chiefly by Bourdon 
de l'Oise, for expelling foreigners from the Convention. My 
expulsion being thus effected, the two committees of Public 
Safety and of General Surety, of which Robespierre was the 
dictator, put me in arrestation under the former decree for 
imprisoning persons born in England. Having thus shewn 
under what pretence the imprisonment was effected, I come 
to speak of such parts of the case as apply between me and 
Mr. Washington, either as a President or as an individual. 

I have always considered that a foreigner, such as I was 
in fact, with respect to France, might be a member of a 
Convention for framing a Constitution, without affecting his 
right of citizenship in the country to which he belongs, 
but not a member of a government after a Constitution is 
formed ; and I have uniformly acted upon this distinction. 
To be a member of a government requires that a person be 
in allegiance to that government and to the country locally. 
But a Constitution, being a thing of principle, and not of 
action, and which, after it is formed, is to be referred to the 
people for their approbation or rejection, does not require 
allegiance in the persons forming and proposing it ; and be- 



220 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

sides this, it is only to the thing after it be formed and 
established, and to the country after its governmental charac- 
ter is fixed by the adoption of a constitution, that the alle- 
giance can be given. No oath of allegiance or of citizenship 
was required of the members who composed the Convention : 
there was nothing existing in form to swear allegiance to. 
If any such condition had been required, I could not, as 
Citizen of America in fact, though Citizen of France by 
compliment, have accepted a seat in the Convention. 

As my citizenship in America was not altered or dimin- 
ished by any thing I had done in Europe, (on the contrary, 
it ought to be considered as strengthened, for it was the 
American principle of government that I was endeavouring 
to spread in Europe,) and as it is the duty of every govern- 
ment to charge itself with the care of any of its citizens 
who may happen to fall under an arbitrary persecution 
abroad, and is also one of the reasons for which ambassadors 
or ministers are appointed, — it was the duty of the Executive 
department in America, to have made (at least) some enquiries 
about me, as soon as it heard of my imprisonment. But 
if this had not been the case, that government owed it to 
me on every ground and principle of honour and gratitude. 
Mr. Washington owed it to me on every score of private 
acquaintance, I will not now say, friendship ; for it has some 
time been known by those who know him, that he has no 
friendships ; that he is incapable of forming any ; he can 
serve or desert a man, or a cause, with constitutional indiffer- 
ence ; and it is this cold hermaphrodite faculty that imposed 
itself upon the world, and was credited for a while by 
enemies as by friends, for prudence, moderation and 
impartiality. 1 

Soon after I was put into arrestation, and imprisoned in 
the Luxembourg, the Americans who were then in Paris went 
in a body to the bar of the Convention to reclaim me. They 
were answered by the then President Vadier, who has since 

1 " L'on peut dire qu'il [Washington] jouit de tous les avantages possibles 
a l'exception des douceurs de l'amitie." — Louis Otto, Charge d'Affaires (at 
New York) to his government, 13 June, 1790. French Archives, vol. 35, No. 
32.— Editor. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 221 

absconded, that / was born in England, and it was signified 
to them, by some of the Committee of General Surety ', to 
whom they were referred (I have been told it was Billaud 
Varennes,) that their reclamation of me was only the act of 
individuals, without any authority from the American 
government. 

A few days after this, all communications from persons 
imprisoned to any person without the prison was cut off by an 
order of the Police. I neither saw, nor heard from, any body 
for six months ; and the only hope that remained to me was, 
that a new Minister would arrive from America to supercede 
Morris, and that he would be authorized to enquire into the 
cause of my imprisonment. But even this hope, in the state 
to which matters were daily arriving, was too remote to have 
any consolatory effect, and I contented myself with the 
thought, that I might be remembered when it would be too 
late. There is perhaps no condition from which a man con- 
scious of his own uprightness cannot derive consolation ; for 
it is in itself a consolation for him to find, that he can bear 
that condition with calmness and fortitude. 

From about the middle of March (1794) to the fall of 
Robespierre July 29, (9th of Thermidor,) the state of things 
in the prisons was a continued scene of horror. No man 
could count upon life for twenty-four hours. To such a pitch 
of rage and suspicion were Robespierre and his Committee 
arrived, that it seemed as if they feared to leave a man liv- 
ing. Scarcely a night passed in which ten, twenty, thirty, 
forty, fifty, or more, were not taken out of the prison, carried 
before a pretended tribunal in the morning, and guillotined 
before night. One hundred and sixty-nine were taken out 
of the Luxembourg one night, in the month of July, and one 
hundred and sixty of them guillotined. A list of two hun- 
dred more, according to the report in the prison, was pre- 
paring a few days before Robespierre fell. In this last list 
I have good reason to believe I was included. A memoran- 
dum in the hand-writing of Robespierre was afterwards pro- 
duced in the Convention, by the committee to whom the 
papers of Robespierre were referred, in these words : 



222 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 



Demand that Thomas Paine 
be decreed of accusation 
for the interests of America 
as well as of France. ' 



" Demander que Thomas 

" Payne soit decret£ d'ac- 

" cusation pour les inte- 

" rets de T Amerique, autant 

" que de la France." 

I had then been imprisoned seven months, and the silence 
of the Executive part of the government of America (Mr. 
Washington) upon the case, and upon every thing respect- 
ing me, was explanation enough to Robespierre that he 
might proceed to extremities. 

A violent fever which had nearly terminated my existence, 
was, I believe, the circumstance that preserved it. I was 
not in a condition to be removed, or to know of what was 
passing, or of what had passed, for more than a month. It 
makes a blank in my remembrance of life. The first thing 
I was informed of was the fall of Robespierre. 

About a week after this, Mr. Monroe arrived to supercede 
Gouverneur Morris, and as soon as I was able to write a 
note legible enough to be read, I found a way to convey 
one to him by means of the man who lighted the lamps in 
the prison ; and whose unabated friendship to me, from 
whom he had never received any service, and with difficulty 
accepted any recompense, puts the character of Mr. Wash- 
ington to shame. 

In a few days I received a message from Mr. Monroe, con- 
veyed to me in a note from an intermediate person, with 
assurance of his friendship, and expressing a desire that I 
would rest the case in his hands. After a fortnight or more 
had passed, and hearing nothing farther, I wrote to a friend 
who was then in Paris, a citizen of Philadelphia, requesting 
him to inform me what was the true, situation of things with 
respect to me. I was sure that something was the matter ; 
I began to have hard thoughts of Mr. Washington, but I 
was unwilling to encourage them. 

In about ten days, I received an answer to my letter, in 
which the writer says, " Mr. Monroe has told me that he has 

1 In reading this the Committee added, "Why Thomas Payne more than 
another? Because he helped to establish the liberty of both worlds." — Editor. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 223 

no order [meaning from the President, Mr. Washington] re- 
specting you, but that he (Mr. Monroe) will do every thing 
in his power to liberate you ; but, from what I learn from the 
Americans lately arrived in Paris, you are not considered, 
either by the American government, or by the individuals, 
as an American citizen." 

I was now at no loss to understand Mr. Washington and 
his new fangled faction, and that their policy was silently to 
leave me to fall in France. They were rushing as fast as 
they could venture, without awakening the jealousy of 
America, into all the vices and corruptions of the British 
government ; and it was no more consistent with the policy 
of Mr. Washington, and those who immediately surrounded 
him, than it was with that of Robespierre or of Pitt, that I 
should survive. They have, however, missed the mark, and 
the reaction is upon themselves. 

Upon the receipt of the letter just alluded to, I sent a 
memorial to Mr. Monroe, which the reader will find in the 
appendix, and I received from him the following answer. 1 
It is dated the 18th of September, but did not come to hand 
till about the 4th of October. I was then falling into a re- 
lapse, the weather was becoming damp and cold, fuel was not 
to be had, and the abscess in my side, the consequence of 
these things, and of the want of air and exercise, was begin- 
ning to form, and which has continued immoveable ever 
since. Here follows Mr. Monroe's letter. 

Paris, September 18th, 1794. 

"Dear Sir, 

" I was favoured soon after my arrival here with several let- 
ters from you, and more latterly with one in the character of 
memorial upon the subject of your confinement ; and should have 
answered them at the times they were respectively written had I 
not concluded you would have calculated with certainty upon the 
deep interest I take in your welfare, and the pleasure with which 
I shall embrace every opportunity in my power to serve you. I 
should still pursue the same course, and for reasons which must 

1 The appendix consisted of an abridgment of the Memorial, which forms the 
preceding chapter (XXI.) in this volume. — Editor. 



224 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

obviously occur, if I did not find that you are disquieted with 
apprehensions upon interesting points, and which justice to you 
and our country equally forbid you should entertain. You men- 
tion that you have been informed you are not considered as an 
American citizen by the Americans, and that you have likewise 
heard that I had no instructions respecting you by the govern- 
ment. I doubt not the person who gave you the information 
meant well, but I suspect he did not even convey accurately his 
own ideas on the first point : for I presume the most he could say 
is, that you had likewise become a French citizen, and which by 
no means deprived you of being an American one. Even this, 
however, may be doubted, I mean the acquisition of citizenship 
in France, and I confess you have said much to show that it has 
not been made. I really suspect that this was all that the gentle- 
man who wrote to you, and those Americans he heard speak up- 
on the subject meant. It becomes my duty, however, to declare 
to you, that I consider you as an American citizen, and that you 
are considered universally in that character by the people of 
America. As such you are entitled to my attention ; and so far 
as it can be given consistently with those obligations which are 
mutual between every government and even a transient passenger, 
you shall receive it. 

" The Congress have never decided upon the subject of citizen- 
ship in a manner to regard the present case. By being with us 
through the revolution you are of our country as absolutely as if 
you had been born there, and you are no more of England, than 
every native American is. This is the true doctrine in the pres- 
ent case, so far as it becomes complicated with any other con- 
sideration. I have mentioned it to make you easy upon the only 
point which could give you any disquietude. 

" Is it necessary for me to tell you how much all your country- 
men, I speak of the great mass of the people, are interested in 
your welfare ? They have not forgotten the history of their own 
revolution and the difficult scenes through which they passed ; 
nor do they review its several stages without reviving in their 
bosoms a due sensibility of the merits of those who served them 
in that great and arduous conflict. The crime of ingratitude has 
not yet stained, and I trust never will stain, our national charac- 
ter. You are considered by them as not only having rendered 
important service in our own revolution, but as being, on a more 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 225 

extensive scale, the friend of human rights, and a distinguished 
and able advocate in favour of public liberty. To the welfare of 
Thomas Paine, the Americans are not, nor can they be, in- 
different. 

" Of the sense which the President has always entertained of 
your merits, and of his friendly disposition towards you, you are 
too well assured to require any declaration of it from me. That I 
forward his wishes in seeking your safety is what I well know, 
and this will form an additional obligation on me to perform what 
I should otherwise consider as a duty. 

" You are, in my opinion, at present menaced by no kind of 
danger. To liberate you, will be an object of my endeavours, 
and as soon as possible. But you must, until that event shall be 
accomplished, bear your situation with patience and fortitude. 
You will likewise have the justice to recollect, that I am placed 
here upon a difficult theatre,* many important objects to attend 
to, with few to consult. It becomes me in pursuit of those to 
regulate my conduct in respect to each, as to the manner and the 
time, as will, in my judgment, be best calculated to accomplish 
the whole. 

" With great esteem and respect consider me personally your 
friend, 

" James Monroe." 

The part in Mr. Monroe's letter, in which he speaks of the 
President, (Mr. Washington,) is put in soft language. Mr. 
Monroe knew what Mr. Washington had said formerly, and 
he was willing to keep that in view. But the fact is, not only 
that Mr. Washington had given no orders to Mr. Monroe, as 
the letter [of Whiteside] stated, but he did not so much as 
say to him, enquire if Mr. Paine be dead or alive, in prison 
or out, or see if there be any assistance we can give him. 

While these matters were passing, the liberations from the 
prisons were numerous ; from twenty to forty in the course 
of almost every twenty-four hours. The continuance of my 
imprisonment after a new Minister had arrived immediately 
from America, which was now more than two months, was a 

* This I presume alludes to the embarrassments which the strange conduct 

of Gouverneur Morris had occasioned, and which, I well know, had created 

suspicions of the sincerity of Mr. Washington. — Author. 
vol in — 15 



226 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE, [1796 

matter so obviously strange, that I found the character of 
the American government spoken of in very unqualified 
terms of reproach ; not only by those who still remained in 
prison, but by those who were liberated, and by persons who 
had access to the prison from without. Under these circum- 
stances I wrote again to Mr. Monroe, and found occasion, 
among other things, to say : " It will not add to the popu- 
larity of Mr. Washington to have it believed in America, as 
it is believed here, that he connives at my imprisonment." 

The case, so far as it respected Mr. Monroe, was, that hav- 
ing to get over the difficulties, which the strange conduct 
of Gouverneur Morris had thrown in the way of a successor, 
and having no authority from the American government to 
speak officially upon any thing relating to me, he found him- 
self obliged to proceed by unofficial means with individual 
members ; for though Robespierre was overthrown, the 
Robespierrian members of the Committee of Public Safety 
still remained in considerable force, and had they found out 
that Mr. Monroe had no official authority upon the case, 
they would have paid little or no regard to his reclamation of 
me. In the mean time my health was suffering exceedingly, 
the dreary prospect of winter was coming on, and imprison- 
ment was still a thing of danger. After the Robespierrian 
members of the Committee were removed by the expiration 
of their time of serving, Mr. Monroe reclaimed me, and I was 
liberated the 4th of November. Mr. Monroe arrived in 
Paris the beginning of August before. All that period of 
my imprisonment, at least, I owe not to Robespierre, but to 
his colleague in projects, George Washington. Immediately 
upon my liberation, Mr. Monroe invited me to his house, 
where I remained more than a year and a half ; and I speak 
of his aid and friendship, as an open-hearted man will always 
do in such a case, with respect and gratitude. 

Soon after my liberation, the Convention passed an unani- 
mous vote, to invite me to return to my seat among them. 
The times were still unsettled and dangerous, as well from 
without as within, for the coalition was unbroken, and the 
constitution not settled. I chose, however, to accept the 



1 7 96] LE TTER TO WA SHING TON. 2.2J 

invitation : for as I undertake nothing but what I believe to 
be right, I abandon nothing that I undertake ; and I was 
willing also to shew, that, as I was not of a cast of mind to 
be deterred by prospects or retrospects of danger, so neither 
were my principles to be weakened by misfortune or per- 
verted by disgust. 

Being now once more abroad in the world, I began to find 
that I was not the only one who had conceived an unfavour- 
able opinion of Mr. Washington ; it was evident that his 
character was on the decline as well among Americans as 
among foreigners of different nations. From being the 
chief of the government, he had made himself the chief of 
a party ; and his integrity was questioned, for his politics 
had a doubtful appearance. The mission of Mr. Jay to 
London, notwithstanding there was an American Minister 
there already, had then taken place, and was beginning to 
be talked of. It appeared to others, as it did to me, to be 
enveloped in mystery, which every day served either to in- 
crease or to explain into matter of suspicion. 

In the year 1790, or about that time, Mr. Washington, as 
President, had sent Gouverneur Morris to London, as his 
secret agent to have some communication with the British 
Ministry. To cover the agency of Morris it was given out, 
I know not by whom, that he went as an agent from Robert 
Morris to borrow money in Europe, and the report was per- 
mitted to pass uncontradicted. The event of Morris's 
negociation was, that Mr. Hammond was sent Minister from 
England to America, Pinckney from America to England, 
and himself Minister to France. If, while Morris was Minis- 
ter in France, he was not a emissary of the British Ministry 
and the coalesced powers, he gave strong reasons to suspect 
him of it. No one who saw his conduct, and heard his con- 
versation, could doubt his being in their interest ; and had 
he not got off the time he did, after his recall, he would 
have been in arrestation. Some letters of his had fallen into 
the hands of the Committee of Public Safety, and enquiry 
was making after him. 

A great bustle had been made by Mr. Washington about 



228 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

the conduct of Genet in America, while that of his own 
Minister, Morris, in France, was infinitely more reproachable. 
If Genet was imprudent or rash, he was not treacherous ; 
but Morris was all three. He was the enemy of the French 
revolution, in every stage of it. But notwithstanding this 
conduct on the part of Morris, and the known profligacy of 
his character, Mr. Washington in a letter he wrote to him 
at the time of recalling him on the complaint and request 
of the Committee of Public Safety, assures him, that though 
he had complied with that request, he still retained the 
same esteem and friendship for him as before. This letter 
Morris was foolish enough to tell of ; and, as his own char- 
acter and conduct were notorious, the telling of it could 
have but one effect, which was that of implicating the char- 
acter of the writer. 1 Morris still loiters in Europe, chiefly 
in England ; and Mr. Washington is still in correspondence 
with him. Mr. Washington ought, therefore, to expect, es- 
pecially since his conduct in the affairs of Jay's treaty, that 
France must consider Morris and Washington as men of the 
same description. The chief difference, however, between 
the two is, (for in politics there is none,) that the one is prof- 
ligate enough to profess an indifference about moral princi- 
ples, and the other is prudent enough to conceal the want of 
them. 

About three months after I was at liberty, the official note 
of Jay to Grenville on the subject of the capture of Ameri- 
can vessels by the British cruisers, appeared in the American 
papers that arrived at Paris. Every thing was of a-piece. 
Every thing was mean. The same kind of character went to 
all circumstances public or private. Disgusted at this na- 

1 Washington wrote to Morris, June 19, 1794, " my confidence in and friend- 
ship for you remain undiminished." It was not "foolish" but sagacious to 
show this one sentence, without which Morris might not have escaped out of 
France. The letter reveals Washington's mental decline. He says "until 
then [Fauchet's demand for recall of Morris, early 1794] I had supposed you 
stood well with the powers that were." Lafayette had pleaded for Morris's 
removal, and two French Ministers before Fauchet, Ternant and Genet, had 
expressed their Government's dissatisfaction with him. See Ford's Writings of 
Washington, vii., p. 453 ; also Editor's Introduction to XXI. — Editor. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 229 

tional degradation, as well as at the particular conduct of 
Mr. Washington to me, I wrote to him (Mr. Washington) on 
the 22d of February (1795) under cover to the then Secretary 
of State, (Mr. Randolph,) and entrusted the letter to Mr. Le- 
tombe, who was appointed French consul to Philadelphia, 
and was on the point of taking his departure. When I sup- 
posed Mr. Letombe had sailed, I mentioned the letter to 
Mr. Monroe, and as I was then in his house, I shewed it to 
him. He expressed a wish that I would recall it, which he 
supposed might be done, as he had learnt that Mr. Letombe 
had not then sailed. I agreed to do so, and it was returned 
by Mr. Letombe under cover to Mr. Monroe. 

The letter, however, will now reach Mr. Washington pub- 
licly in the course of this work. 

About the month of September following, I had a severe 
relapse which gave occasion to the report of my death. I 
had felt it coming on a considerable time before, which 
occasioned me to hasten the work I had then in hand, the 
Second part of the Age of Reason. When I had finished that 
work, I bestowed another letter on Mr. Washington, which 
I sent under cover to Mr. Benj. Franklin Bache of Philadel- 
phia. The letter is as follows : 

" Paris, September 20th, 1795. 

" Sir, 

" I had written you a letter by Mr. Letombe, French con- 
sul, but, at the request of Mr. Monroe, I withdrew it, and the 
letter is still by me. I was the more easily prevailed upon 
to do this, as it was then my intention to have returned to 
America the latter end of the present year, 1795 ; but the 
illness I now suffer prevents me. In case I had come, I 
should have applied to you for such parts of your official 
letters (and of your private ones, if you had chosen to give 
them) as contained any instructions or directions either to 
Mr. Monroe, or to Mr. Morris, or to any other person respec- 
ting me ; for after you were informed of my imprisonment 
in France, it was incumbent on you to have made some 
enquiry into the cause, as you might very well conclude that 
I had not the opportunity of informing you of it. I cannot 



230 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

understand your silence upon this subject upon any other 
ground, than as connivance at my imprisonment ; and this is 
the manner it is understood here, and will be understood in 
America, unless you give me authority for contradicting it. 
I therefore write you this letter, to propose to you to send 
me copies of any letters you have written, that may remove 
that suspicion. In the preface to the second part of the Age 
of Reason, I have given a memorandum from the hand-writ- 
ing of Robespierre, in which he proposed a decree of accusa- 
tion against me, 'for the interests of America as well as of 
France' He could have no cause for putting America in the 
case, but by interpreting the silence of the American gov- 
ernment into connivance and consent. I was imprisoned on 
the ground of being born in England ; and your silence in 
not enquiring into the cause of that imprisonment, and 
reclaiming me against it, was tacitly giving me up. I ought 
not to have suspected you of treachery ; but whether I 
recover from the illness I now suffer or not, I shall continue 
to think you treacherous, till you give me cause to think 
otherwise. I am sure you would have found yourself more 
at your ease, had you acted by me as you ought ; for whether 
your desertion of me was intended to gratify the English 
Government, or to let me fall into destruction in France that 
you might exclaim the louder against the French Revolution, 
or whether you hoped by my extinction to meet with less 
opposition in mounting up the American government — either 
of these will involve you in reproach you will not easily 
shake off. " Thomas Paine." ' 

Here follows the letter above alluded to, which I had 
stopped in complaisance to Mr. Monroe. 

" Paris, February 22d, 1795. 

" Sir, 

" As it is always painful to reproach those one would wish 
to respect, it is not without some difficulty that I have taken 

1 Washington Papers in State Department. Endorsed by Bache : "Jan. iS, 
1796. Enclosed to Benj. Franklin Bache, and by him forwarded immediately 
upon receipt." — Editor. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 23 1 

the resolution to write to you. The dangers to which I have 
been exposed cannot have been unknown to you, and the 
guarded silence you have observed upon that circumstance 
is what I ought not to have expected from you, either as a 
friend or as President of the United States. 

" You knew enough of my character to be assured that I 
could not have deserved imprisonment in France; and,without 
knowing any thing more than this, you had sufficient ground 
to have taken some interest for my safety. Every motive 
arising from recollection of times past, ought to have sug- 
gested to you the propriety of such a measure. But I cannot 
find that you have so much as directed any enquiry to be 
made whether I was in prison or at liberty, dead or alive ; 
what the cause of that imprisonment was, or whether there 
was any service or assistance you could render. Is this what 
I ought to have expected from America, after the part I had 
acted towards her, or will it redound to her honour or to 
yours, that I tell the story? I do not hesitate to say, that 
you have not served America with more disinterestedness, 
or greater zeal, or more fidelity, than myself, and I know not 
if with better effect. After the revolution of America was 
established I ventured into new scenes of difficulties to ex- 
tend the principles which that revolution had produced, and 
you rested at home to partake of the advantages. In the 
progress of events, you beheld yourself a President in 
America, and me a prisoner in France. You folded your 
arms, forgot your friend, and became silent. 

" As every thing I have been doing in Europe was con- 
nected with my wishes for the prosperity of America, I ought 
to be the more surprised at this conduct on the part of her 
government. It leaves me but one mode of explanation, 
which is, that every thing is not as it ought to be amongst you, 
and that the presence of a man who might disapprove, and 
who had credit enough with the country to be heard and 
believed, was not wished for. This was the operating motive 
with the despotic faction that imprisoned me in France, 
(though the pretence was, that I was a foreigner,) and those 
that have been silent and inactive towards me in America, 



232 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

appear to me to have acted from the same motive. It is 
impossible for me to discover any other. 1 

" After the part I have taken in the revolution of America, 
it is natural that I feel interested in whatever relates to her 
character and prosperity. Though I am not on the spot to 
see what is immediately acting there, I see some part of what 
she is acting in Europe. For your own sake, as well as for 
that of America, I was both surprised and concerned at the 
appointment of Gouverneur Morris to be Minister to France. 
His conduct has proved that the opinion I had formed of 
that appointment was well founded. I wrote that opinion 
to Mr. Jefferson at the time, and I was frank enough to say 
the same thing to Morris — that it was an unfortunate ap- 
pointment? His prating, insignificant pomposity, rendered 
him at once offensive, suspected, and ridiculous ; and his total 
neglect of all business had so disgusted the Americans, that 
they proposed drawing up a protest against him. He carried 
this neglect to such an extreme, that it was necessary to inform 
him of it ; and I asked him one day, if he did not feel himself 
ashamed to take the money of the country, and do nothing 
for it ? 3 But Morris is so fond of profit and voluptousness, 
that he cares nothing about character. Had he not been 
removed at the time he was, I think his conduct would have 
precipitated the two countries into a rupture ; and in this 
case, hated systematically as America is and ever will be by 
the British government, and at the same time suspected by 
France, the commerce of America would have fallen a prey 
to both countries. 

" If the inconsistent conduct of Morris exposed the interest 

1 This paragraph of the original letter was omitted from the American pam- 
phlet, probably by the prudence of Mr. Bache. — Editor. 

2 " I have just heard of Gouverneur Morris's appointment. It is a most unfor- 
tunate one ; and, as I shall mention the same thing to him when I see him, I do 
not express it to you with the injunction of confidence." — Paine to Jefferson, 
Feb. 13, 1792. — Editor. 

3 Paine could not of course know that Morris was willing that the Americans, 
to whom he alludes, captains of captured vessels, should suffer, in order that 
there might be a case against France of violation of treaty, which would leave 
the United States free to transfer the alliance to England. See Introduction to 
XXI. • also my "Life of Paine," ii., p. 83. — Editor. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 233 

of America to some hazard in France, the pusillanimous con- 
duct of Mr. Jay in England has rendered the American 
government contemptible in Europe. Is it possible that 
any man who has contributed to the independence of Amer- 
ica, and to free her from the tyranny and injustice of the 
British government, can read without shame and indignation 
the note of Jay to Grenville ? It is a satire upon the declara- 
tion of Independence, and an encouragement to the British 
government to treat America with contempt. At the time 
this Minister of Petitions was acting this miserable part, he 
had every means in his hands to enable him to have done 
his business as he ought. The success or failure of his mis- 
sion depended upon the success or failure of the French 
arms. Had France failed, Mr. Jay might have put his hum- 
ble petition in his pocket, and gone home. The case hap- 
pened to be otherwise, and he has sacrificed the honour and 
perhaps all the advantages of it, by turning petitioner. I 
take it for granted, that he was sent over to demand indem- 
nification for the captured property ; and, in this case, if he 
thought he wanted a preamble to his demand, he might have 
said, ' That, tho' the government of England might suppose 
1 itself under the necessity of seizing American property bound 
' to France, yet that supposed necessity could not preclude 
i indemnification to the proprietors, who, acting under the 
• authority of their own government, were not accountable to 
1 any other.' But Mr. Jay sets out with an implied recogni- 
tion of the right of the British government to seize and con- 
demn : for he enters his complaint against the irregularity 
of the seizures and the condemnation, as if they were repre- 
hensible only by not being conformable to the terms of the 
proclamation under which they were seized. Instead of 
being the Envoy of a government, he goes over like a lawyer 
to demand a new trial. I can hardly help thinking that 
Grenville wrote that note himself and Jay signed it ; for the 
style of it is domestic and not diplomatic. The term, His 
Majesty, used without any descriptive epithet, always signi- 
fies the King whom the Minister that speaks represents. If 
this sinking of the demand into a petition was a juggle be- 



234 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

tween Grenville and Jay, to cover the indemnification, I 
think it will end in another juggle, that of never paying the 
money, and be made use of afterwards to preclude the right 
of demanding it : for Mr. Jay has virtually disowned the 
right by appealing to the magnanimity of his Majesty against 
the capturers. He has made this magnanimous Majesty the 
umpire in the case, and the government of the United States 
must abide by the decision. If, Sir, I turn some part of 
this business into ridicule, it is to avoid the unpleasant sen- 
sation of serious indignation. 

" Among other things which I confess I do not understand, 
is the proclamation of neutrality. This has always appeared 
to me as an assumption on the part of the executive not 
warranted by the Constitution. But passing this over, as a 
disputable case, and considering it only as political, the con- 
sequence has been that of sustaining the losses of war, 
without the balance of reprisals. When the profession of 
neutrality, on the part of America, was answered by hostilities 
on the part of Britain, the object and intention of that neu- 
trality existed no longer ; and to maintain it after this, was 
not only to encourage farther insults and depredations, but 
was an informal breach of neutrality towards France, by 
passively contributing to the aid of her enemy. That the 
government of England considered the American govern- 
ment as pusillanimous, is evident from the encreasing inso- 
lence of the conduct of the former towards the latter, till the 
affair of General Wayne. She then saw that it might be 
possible to kick a government into some degree of spirit. 1 
So far as the proclamation of neutrality was intended to pre- 
vent a dissolute spirit of privateering in America under 
foreign colors, it was undoubtedly laudable ; but to continue 
it as a government neutrality, after the commerce of America 
was made war upon, was submission and not neutrality. I 
have heard so much about this thing called neutrality, that 

1 Wayne's success against the Indians of the Six Nations, 1794, was regarded 
by Washington also as a check on England. Writing to Pendleton, Jan. 22, 
1795, he says : " There is reason to believe that the Indians .... together 
with their abettors, begin to see things in a different point of view." (Italics 
mine). — Editor. 



I79 6 ] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 235 

I know not if the ungenerous and dishonorable silence (for 
I must call it such,) that has been observed by your part of 
the government towards me, during my imprisonment, has 
not in some measure arisen from that policy. 

" Tho' I have written you this letter, you ought not to sup- 
pose it has been an agreeable undertaking to me. On the 
contrary, I assure you, it has caused me some disquietude. 
I am sorry you have given me cause to do it ; for, as I have 
always remembered your former friendship with pleasure, I 
suffer a loss by your depriving me of that sentiment. 

" Thomas Paine." 

That this letter was not written in very good temper, is 
very evident ; but it was just such a letter as his conduct 
appeared to me to merit, and every thing on his part since 
has served to confirm that opinion. Had I wanted a com- 
mentary on his silence, with respect to my imprisonment in 
France, some of his faction have furnished me with it. What 
I here allude to, is a publication in a Philadelphia paper, 
copied afterwards into a New York paper, both under the 
patronage of the Washington faction, in which the writer, 
still supposing me in prison in France, wonders at my 
lengthy respite from the scaffold ; and he marks his politics 
still farther, by saying : 

"It appears, moreover, that the people of England did not 
relish his (Thomas Paine's) opinions quite so well as he expected, 
and that for one of his last pieces, as destructive to the peace and 
happiness of their country, (meaning, I suppose, the Rights of 
Man,) they threatened our knight-errant with such serious ven- 
geance, that, to avoid a trip to Botany Bay, he fled over to France, 
as a less dangerous voyage." 

I am not refuting or contradicting the falsehood of this 
publication, for it is sufficiently notorious ; neither am I cen- 
suring the writer: on the contrary, I thank him for the ex- 
planation he has incautiously given of the principles of the 
Washington faction. Insignificant, however, as the piece is, 
it was capable of having some ill effects, had it arrived in 
France during my imprisonment, and in the time of Robes- 



236 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

pierre ; and I am not uncharitable in supposing that this was 
one of the intentions of the writer.* 

I have now done with Mr. Washington on the score of 
private affairs. It would have been far more agreeable to 
me, had his conduct been such as not to have merited these 
reproaches. Errors or caprices of the temper can be par- 
doned and forgotten ; but a cold deliberate crime of the 
heart, such as Mr. Washington is capable of acting, is not to 
be washed away. I now proceed to other matter. 

After Jay's note to Grenville arrived in Paris from Amer- 
ica, the character of every thing that was to follow might 
be easily foreseen ; and it was upon this anticipation that 
my letter of February the 22d was founded. The event has 
proved that I was not mistaken, except that it has been 
much worse than I expected. 

It would naturally occur to Mr. Washington, that the 
secrecy of Jay's mission to England, where there was already 
an American Minister, could not but create some suspicion 
in the French government ; especially as the conduct of 
Morris had been notorious, and the intimacy of Mr. Wash- 
ington with Morris was known. 

The character which Mr. Washington has attempted to 
act in the world, is a sort of non-describable, camelion-col- 
ored thing, called prudence. It is, in many cases, a substi- 
tute for principle, and is so nearly allied to hypocrisy that 
it easily slides into it. His genius for prudence furnished 
him in this instance with an expedient that served, as is the 
natural and general character of all expedients, to diminish 
the embarrassments of the moment and multiply them after- 
wards; for he authorized it to be made known to the French 
government, as a confidential matter, (Mr. Washington 

* I know not who the writer of the piece is, but some of the Americans say it 
is Phineas Bond, an American refugee, but now a British consul ; and that he 
writes under the signature of Peter Skunk or Peter Porcupine, or some such 
signature. — A uthor. 

This footnote probably added to the gall of Porcupine's (Cobbett's) ' ' Letter 
to the Infamous Tom. Paine, in Answer to his Letter to General Washington " 
(Polii. Censor, Dec, 1796), of which he (Cobbett) afterwards repented. 
Thineas Bond had nothing to do with it. — Editor. 



I79 6 l LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 237 

should recollect that I was a member of the Convention, 
and had the means of knowing what I here state) he author- 
ized it, I say, to be announced, and that for the purpose of 
preventing any uneasiness to France on the score of Mr. 
Jay's mission to England, that the object of that mission, 
and of Mr. Jay's authority, was restricted to that of demand- 
ing the surrender of the western posts, and indemnification 
for the cargoes captured in American vessels. Mr. Wash- 
ington knows that this was untrue ; and knowing this, he 
had good reason to himself for refusing to furnish the House 
of Representatives with copies of the instructions given to 
Jay, as he might suspect, among other things, that he should 
also be called upon for copies of instructions given to other 
Ministers, and that, in the contradiction of instructions, his 
want of integrity would be detected. 1 Mr. Washington may 
now, perhaps, learn, when it is too late to be of any use to 
him, that a man will pass better through the world with a 
thousand open errors upon his back, than in being detected 
in one sly falsehood. When one is detected, a thousand are 
suspected. 

The first account that arrived in Paris of a treaty being 
negotiated by Mr. Jay, (for nobody suspected any,) came in 
an English newspaper, which announced that a treaty offen- 
sive and defensive had been concluded between the United 
States of America and England. This was immediately de- 
nied by every American in Paris, as an impossible thing ; 
and though it was disbelieved by the French, it imprinted 
a suspicion that some underhand business was going for- 

1 When the British treaty had been ratified by the Senate (with one stipula- 
tion) and signed by the President, the House of Representatives, required to 
supply the means for carrying into effect, believed that its power over the sup- 
plies authorized it to check what a large majority considered an outrage on the 
country and on France. This was the opinion of Edmund Randolph (the first 
Attorney General), of Jefferson, Madison, and other eminent men. The House 
having respectfully requested the President to send them such papers on the 
treaty as would not affect any existing negotiations, he refused in a message 
(March 30, 1796), whose tenor Madison described as " improper and indeli- 
cate." He said " the assent of the House of Representatives is not necessary 
to the validity of a treaty. " The House regarded the message as menacing a 
serious conflict, and receded. — Editor. 



238 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

ward.* At length the treaty itself arrived, and every well- 
affected American blushed with shame. 

It is curious to observe, how the appearance of characters 
will change, whilst the root that produces them remains the 
same. The Washington faction having waded through the 
slough of negociation, and whilst it amused France with 
professions of friendship contrived to injure her, immediately 
throws off the hypocrite, and assumes the swaggering air of 
a bravado. The party papers of that imbecile administra- 
tion were on this occasion filled with paragraphs about 
Sovereignty. A paltroon may boast of his sovereign right 
to let another kick him, and this is the only kind of sover- 
eignty shewn in the treaty with England. But those daring 

* It was the embarrassment into which the affairs and credit of America were 
thrown at this instant by the report above alluded to, that made it necessary to 
contradict it, and that by every means arising from opinion or founded upon 
authority. The Committee of Public Safety, existing at that time, had agreed 
to the full execution, on their part, of the treaty between America and France, 
notwithstanding some equivocal conduct on the part of the American govern- 
ment, not very consistent with the good faith of an ally; but they were not in a 
disposition to be imposed upon by a counter-treaty. That Jay had no instruc- 
tions beyond the points above stated, or none that could possibly be construed 
to extend to the length the British treaty goes, was a matter believed in Amer- 
ica, in England, and in France ; and without going to any other source it fol- 
lowed naturally from the message of the President to Congress, when he 
nominated Jay upon that mission. The secretary of Mr. Jay came to Paris 
soon after the treaty with England had been concluded, and brought with him 
a copy of Mr. Jay's instructions, which he offered to shew to me as a justifica- 
tion of Jay. I advised him, as a friend, not to shew them to anybody, and did 
not permit him to shew them to me. " Who is it," said I to him, "that you 
intend to implicate as censureable by shewing those instructions ? Perhaps that 
implication may fall upon your own government." Though I did not see the 
instructions, I could not be at a loss to understand that the American adminis- 
tration had been playing a double game. — Author. 

That there was a "double game " in this business, from first to last, is now a 
fact of history. Jay was confirmed by the Senate on a declaration of the Presi- 
dent in which no faintest hint of a treaty was given, but only the " adjustment of 
our complaints," " vindication of our rights," and cultivation of " peace." Only 
after the Envoy's confirmation did the Cabinet add the main thing, his authority 
to negotiate a commercial treaty. This was done against the protest of the only 
lawyer among them, Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State, who said the exer- 
cise of such a power by Jay would be an abridgment of the rights of the Senate 
and of the nation. See my " Life of Randolph," p. 220. For Jay's Instructions, 
etc., see I. Am. State Papers, Foreign Relations. — Editor. 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 239 

paragraphs, as Timothy Pickering x well knows, were intended 
for France ; without whose assistance, in men, money, and 
ships, Mr. Washington would have cut but a poor figure in 
the American war. But of his military talents I shall speak 
hereafter. 

I mean not to enter into any discussion of any article of 
Jay's treaty ; I shall speak only upon the whole of it. It is 
attempted to be justified on the ground of its not being a 
violation of any article or articles of the treaty pre-existing 
with France. But the sovereign right of explanation does 
not lie with George Washington and his man Timothy ; 
France, on her part, has, at least, an equal right : and when 
nations dispute, it is not so much about words as about 
things. 

A man, such as the world calls a sharper, and versed as 
Jay must be supposed to be in the quibbles of the law, may 
find a way to enter into engagements, and make bargains, 
in such a manner as to cheat some other party, without that 
party being able, as the phrase is, to take the law of him. This 
often happens in the cabalistical circle of what is called law. 
But when this is attempted to be acted on the national scale 
of treaties, it is too despicable to be defended, or to be per- 
mitted to exist. Yet this is the trick upon which Jay's treaty 
is founded, so far as it has relation to the treaty pre-existing 
with France. It is a counter-treaty to that treaty, and per- 
verts all the great articles of that treaty to the injury of 
France, and makes them operate as a bounty to England, 
with whom France is at war. 

The Washington administration shews great desire that 
the treaty between France and the United States be pre- 
served. Nobody can doubt their sincerity upon this matter. 
There is not a British Minister, a British merchant, or a 
British agent or sailor in America, that does not anxiously 
wish the same thing. The treaty with France serves now 
as a passport to supply England with naval stores and other 
articles of American produce, whilst the same articles, when 
coming to France, are made contraband or seizable by Jay's 

1 Secretary of State. — Editor. 



240 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

treaty with England. The treaty with France says, that 
neutral ships make neutral property, and thereby gives pro- 
tection to English property on board American ships ; and 
Jay's treaty delivers up French property on board American 
ships to be seized by the English. It is too paltry to talk 
of faith, of national honour, and of the preservation of 
treaties, whilst such a bare-faced treachery as this stares the 
world in the face. 

The Washington administration may save itself the trou- 
ble of proving to the French government its most faithful in- 
tentions of preserving the treaty with France ; for France has 
now no desire that it should be preserved. She had nomi- 
nated an Envoy extraordinary to America, to make Mr. 
Washington and his government a present of the treaty, and 
to have no more to do with that, or with him. It was at the 
same time officially declared to the American Minister at 
Paris, that the French Republic had rather have the American 
government for an open enemy than a treacherous friend. 
This, sir, together with the internal distractions caused in 
America, and the loss of character in the world, is the event- 
ful crisis, alluded to in the beginning of this letter, to which 
your double politics have brought the affairs of your coun- 
try. It is time that the eyes of America be opened upon 
you. 

How France would have conducted herself towards Amer- 
ica and American commerce, after all treaty stipulations had 
ceased, and under the sense of services rendered and injuries 
received, I know not. It is, however, an unpleasant reflec- 
tion, that in all national quarrels, the innocent, and even the 
friendly part of the community, become involved with the 
culpable and the unfriendly ; and as the accounts that ar- 
rived from America continued to manifest an invariable 
attachment in the general mass of the people to their original 
ally, in opposition to the new-fangled Washington faction, — 
the resolutions that had been taken in France were sus- 
pended. It happened also, fortunately enough, that Gou- 
verneur Morris was not Minister at this time. 

There is, however, one point that still remains in embryo, 






1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 24 1 

and which, among other things, serves to shew the ignorance 
of Washington treaty-makers, and their inattention to pre- 
existing treaties, when they were employing themselves in 
framing or ratifying the new treaty with England. 

The second article of the treaty of commerce between the 
United States and France says : 

" The most christian king and the United States engage mu- 
tually, not to grant any particular favour to other nations in re- 
spect of commerce and navigation that shall not immediately 
become common to the other party, who shall enjoy the same 
favour freely, if the concession was freely made, or on allowing 
the same compensation if the concession was conditional." 

All the concessions, therefore, made to England by Jay's 
treaty are, through the medium of this second article in the 
pre-existing treaty, made to France, and become engrafted 
into the treaty with France, and can be exercised by her as 
a matter of right, the same as by England. 

Jay's treaty makes a concession to England, and that un- 
conditionally, of seizing naval stores in American ships, and 
condemning them as contraband. It makes also a conces- 
sion to England to seize provisions and other articles in 
American ships. Other articles are all other articles, and 
none but an ignoramus, or something worse, would have put 
such a phrase into a treaty. The condition annexed in this 
case is, that the provisions and other articles so seized, are 
to be paid for at a price to be agreed upon. Mr. Washing- 
ton, as President, ratified this treaty after he knew the Brit- 
ish Government had recommended an indiscriminate seizure 
of provisions and all other articles in American ships ; and 
it is now known that those seizures were made to fit out the 
expedition going to Quiberon Bay, and it was known before 
hand that they would be made. The evidence goes also a 
good way to prove that Jay and Grenville understood each 
other upon that subject. Mr. Pinckney, 1 when he passed 
through France on his way to Spain, spoke of the recom- 
mencement of the seizures as a thing that would take place. 

1 Gen. Thomas Pinckney, U. S. Minister to England. — Editor, 
vol in — 16 



242 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

The French government had by some means received in- 
formation from London to the same purpose, with the addi- 
tion, that the recommencement of the seizures would cause 
no misunderstanding between the British and American 
governments. Grenville, in defending himself against the 
opposition in Parliament, on account of the scarcity of corn, 
said (see his speech at the opening of the Parliament that 
met October 29, 1795) that the supplies for the Quiberon ex- 
pedition were furnished out of the American ships, and all the 
accounts received at that time from England stated that those 
seizures were made under the treaty. After the supplies for 
the Quiberon expedition had been procured, and the ex- 
pected success had failed, the seizures were countermanded ; 
and had the French seized provision vessels going to Eng- 
land, it is probable that the Quiberon expedition could not 
have been attempted. 

In one point of view, the treaty with England operates as 
a loan to the English government. It gives permission to 
that government to take American property at sea, to any 
amount, and pay for it when it suits her ; and besides this, 
the treaty is in every point of view a surrender of the rights 
of American commerce and navigation, and a refusal to 
France of the rights of neutrality. The American flag is 
not now a neutral flag to France ; Jay's treaty of surrender 
gives a monopoly of it to England. 

On the contrary, the treaty of commerce between America 
and France was formed on the most liberal principles, and 
calculated to give the greatest encouragement to the infant 
commerce of America. France was neither a carrier nor an 
exporter of naval stores or of provisions. Those articles be- 
longed wholly to America, and they had all the protection 
in that treaty which a treaty could give. But so much has 
that treaty been perverted, that the liberality of it on the 
part of France, has served to encourage Jay to form a coun- 
ter-treaty with England ; for he must have supposed the 
hands of France tied up by her treaty with America, when 
he was making such large concessions in favour of England. 
The injury which Mr. Washington's administration has done 



1796] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 243 

to the character as well as to the commerce of America, is 
too great to be repaired by him. Foreign nations will be 
shy of making treaties with a government that has given the 
faithless example of perverting the liberality of a former 
treaty to the injury of the party with whom it was made. 1 

In what a fraudulent light must Mr. Washington's character 
appear in the world, when his declarations and his conduct 
are compared together ! Here follows the letter he wrote to 
the Committee of Public Safety, while Jay was negotiating 
in profound secrecy this treacherous treaty : 

" George Washington, President of the United States of 
America, to the Representatives of the French people, 
members of the Committee of Public Safety of the 
French Republic, the great and good friend and ally of the 
United States. 

" On the intimation of the wish of the French republic that a 
new Minister should be sent from the United States, I resolved 
to manifest my sense of the readiness with which my request was 
fulfilled, [that of recalling Genet,] by immediately fulfilling the 
request of your government, [that of recalling Morris]. 

" It was some time before a character could be obtained, worthy 
of the high office of expressing the attachment of the United 
States to the happiness of our allies, and drawing closer the bonds 
of our friendship. I have now made choice of James Monroe, 
one of our distinguished citizens, to reside near the French re- 
public, in quality of Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 
of America. He is instructed to bear to you our sincere solici- 
tude for your welfare, and to cultivate with zeal the cordiality so 
happily subsisting between us. From a knowledge of his fidelity, 
probity, and good conduct, I have entire confidence that he will 
render himself acceptable to you, and give effect to your desire 
of preserving and advancing, on all occasions, the interest and con- 
nection of the two nations. I beseech you, therefore, to give full 
credence to whatever he shall say to you on the part of the 
United States, and most of all, when he shall assure you that your 

1 For an analysis of the British Treaty see Wharton's ' ' Digest of the Inter- 
national Law of the United States," vol. ii., § 150 a. Paine's analysis is per- 
fectly correct. — Editor. 






244 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l79& 

prosperity is an object of our affection. And I pray God to have 
the French Republic in his holy keeping. 

G? Washington." ■ 

Was it by entering into a treaty with England to surren- 
der French property on board American ships to be seized 
by the English, while English property on board American 
ships was declared by the French treaty not to be seizable, 
that the bonds of friendship between America and France were 
to be drawn the closer ? Was it by declaring naval stores 
contraband when coming to France, whilst by the French 
treaty they were not contraband when going to England, 
that the connection between France and America was to be ad- 
vanced? Was it by opening the American ports to the 
British navy in the present war, from which ports the same 
navy had been expelled by the aid solicited from France in 
the American war (and that aid gratuitously given a ) that the 
gratitude of America was to be shewn, and the solicitude 
spoken of in the letter demonstrated ? 

As the letter was addressed to the Committee of Public 
Safety, Mr. Washington did not expect it would get abroad 
in the world, or be seen by any other eye than that of Robes- 
pierre, or be heard by any other ear than that of the Com- 
mittee ; that it would pass as a whisper across the Atlantic, 
from one dark chamber to the other, and there terminate. 
It was calculated to remove from the mind of the Committee 
all suspicion upon Jay's mission to England, and, in this 
point of view, it was suited to the circumstances of the 
movement then passing ; but as the event of that mission 
has proved the letter to be hypocritical, it serves no other 
purpose of the present moment than to shew that the writer 
is not to be credited. Two circumstances serve to make the 
reading of the letter necessary in the Convention. The one 
was, that they who succeeded on the fall of Robespierre, 

1 The italics are Paine's. Paine's free use of this document suggests that 
he possessed the confidence of the French Directory. — Editor. 

2 It is notable that Paine adheres to his old contention in his controversy with 
Deane. See vol. i., ch. 22 of this work ; and vol. i., ch. 9 of my " Life of 
Paine . ' ' — Editor. 



I79 6 ] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 245 

found it most proper to act with publicity ; the other, to ex- 
tinguish the suspicions which the strange conduct of Morris 
had occasioned in France. 

When the British treaty, and the ratification of it by Mr. 
Washington, was known in France, all further declarations 
from him of his good disposition as an ally and friend, 
passed for so many cyphers ; but still it appeared necessary 
to him to keep up the farce of declarations. It is stipulated 
in the British treaty, that commissioners are to report at the 
end of two years, on the case of neutral ships making neu- 
tral property. In the mean time, neutral ships do not make 
neutral property, according to the British treaty, and they 
do according to the French treaty. The preservation, there- 
fore, of the French treaty became of great importance to 
England, as by that means she can employ American ships 
as carriers, whilst the same advantage is denied to France. 
Whether the French treaty could exist as a matter of right 
after this clandestine perversion of it, could not but give 
some apprehensions to the partizans of the British treaty, 
and it became necessary to them to make up, by fine words, 
what was wanting in good actions. 

An opportunity offered to that purpose. The Convention, 
on the public reception of Mr. Monroe, ordered the Ameri- 
can flag and the French flags to be displayed unitedly in the 
hall of the Convention. Mr. Monroe made a present of an 
American flag for the purpose. The Convention returned 
this compliment by sending a French flag to America, to be 
presented by their Minister, Mr. Adet, to the American 
government. This resolution passed long before Jay's 
treaty was known or suspected : it passed in the days of 
confidence ; but the flag was not presented by Mr. Adet till 
several months after the treaty had been ratified. Mr. 
Washington made this the occasion of saying some fine 
things to the French Minister ; and the better to get himself 
into tune to do this, he began by saying the finest things 
of himself. 

" Born, sir (said he) in a land of liberty ; having early learned 
its value ; having engaged in a perilous conflict to defend it ; 



246 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

having, in a word, devoted the best years of my life to secure its 
permanent establishment in my own country ; my anxious recol- 
lections, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes are irre- 
sistibly excited, whenever, in any country, I see an oppressed 
people unfurl the banner of freedom." 

Mr. Washington, having expended so many fine phrases 
upon himself, was obliged to invent a new one for the 
French, and he calls them " wonderful people ! " The coa- 
lesced powers acknowledged as much. 

It is laughable to hear Mr. Washington talk of his sympa- 
thetic feelings, who has always been remarked, even among 
his friends, for not having any. He has, however, given no 
proofs of any to me. As to the pompous encomiums he so 
liberally pays to himself, on the score of the American revo- 
lution, the reality of them may be questioned ; and since he 
has forced them so much into notice, it is fair to examine 
his pretensions. 

A stranger might be led to suppose, from the egotism with 
which Mr. Washington speaks, that himself, and himself only, 
had generated, conducted, compleated, and established the 
revolution : In fine, that it was all his own doing. 

In the first place, as to the political part, he had no share 
in it ; and, therefore, the whole of that is out of the question 
with respect to him. There remains, then, only the military 
part ; and it would have been prudent in Mr. Washington 
not to have awakened enquiry upon that subject. Fame 
then was cheap ; he enjoyed it cheaply ; and nobody was 
disposed to take away the laurels that, whether they were 
acquired or not, had been given. 

Mr. Washington's merit consisted in constancy. But con- 
stancy was the common virtue of the revolution. W T ho was 
there that was inconstant ? I know but of one military de- 
fection, that of Arnold ; and I know of no political defec- 
tion, among those who made themselves eminent when the 
revolution was formed by the declaration of independence. 
Even Silas Deane, though he attempted to defraud, did not 
betray. 1 

1 This generous judgment by Deane's old adversary has become questionable 
under recent investigations. — Editor. 



I79 6 ] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 247 

But when we speak of military character, something more 
is to be understood than constancy; and something more 
ought to be understood than the Fabian system of doing 
nothing. The nothing part can be done by any body. Old 
Mrs. Thompson, the housekeeper of head quarters, (who 
threatened to make the sun and the wind shine through Riv- 
ington of New York,) 2 could have done it rs well as Mr. 
Washington. Deborah would have been as good as Barak. 

Mr. Washington had the nominal rank of Commander in 
Chief, but he was not so in fact. He had, in reality, only a 
separate command. He had no controul over, or direction 
of, the army to the northward under Gates, that captured 
Burgoyne ; nor of that to the south under [Nathaniel] 
Greene, that recovered the southern States.* The nominal 
rank, however, of Commander in Chief, served to throw 
upon him the lustre of those actions, and to make him ap- 
pear as the soul and centre of all military operations in 
America. 

He commenced his command June, 1775, during the time 
the Massachusetts army lay before Boston, and after the 
affair of Bunker-hill. The commencement of his command 
was the commencement of inactivity. Nothing was after- 
wards done, or attempted to be done, during the nine 
months he remained before Boston. If we may judge from 
the resistance made at Concord, and afterwards at Bunker- 
hill, there was a spirit of enterprise at that time, which the 
presence of Mr. Washington chilled into cold defence. By 
the advantage of a good exterior he attracts respect, which 
his habitual silence tends to preserve ; but he has not the 
talent of inspiring ardour in an army. The enemy removed 
from Boston in March 1776, to wait for reinforcements from 
Europe, and to take a more advantageous position at New 
York. 

The inactivity of the campaign of 1775, on the part of 
General Washington, when the enemy had a less force than 

1 The Tory publisher of New York City, whose press was destroyed in 1775 
by a mob of Connecticut soldiers. — Editor. 

* See Mr. Winterbotham's valuable History of America, lately published. — 
Author. [The " History of the Establishment of Independence " is contained 
in the first of Mr. Winterbotham's four volumes (London, 1795). — Editor. ~\ 






248 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

in any other future period of the war, and the injudicious 
choice of positions taken by him in the campaign of 1776, 
when the enemy had its greatest force, necessarily produced 
the losses and misfortunes that marked that gloomy cam- 
paign. The positions taken were either islands or necks of 
land. In the former, the enemy, by the aid of their ships, 
could bring their whole force against apart of General Wash- 
ington's, as in the affair of Long Island ; and in the latter, 
he might be shut up as in the bottom of a bag. This had 
nearly been the case at New York, and it was so in part ; 
it was actually the case at Fort Washington ; and it would 
have been the case at Fort Lee, if General Greene had not 
moved precipitately off, leaving every thing behind, and by 
gaining Hackinsack bridge, got out of the bag of Bergen 
Neck. How far Mr. Washington, as General, is blameable 
for these matters, I am not undertaking to determine ; but 
they are evidently defects in military geography. The suc- 
cessful skirmishes at the close of that campaign, (matters 
that would scarcely be noticed in a better state of things,) 
make the brilliant exploits of General Washington's seven 
campaigns. No wonder we see so much pusillanimity in 
the President \ when we see so little enterprise in the General I 

The campaign of 1777 became famous, not by anything 
on the part of General Washington, but by the capture of 
General Burgoyne, and the army under his command, by 
the Northern army at Saratoga, under General Gates. So 
totally distinct and unconnected were the two armies of 
Washington and Gates, and so independent was the latter 
of the authority of the nominal Commander in Chief, that 
the two Generals did not so much as correspond, and it was 
only by a letter of General (since Governor) Clinton, that 
General Washington was informed of that event. The 
British took possession of Philadelphia this year, which they 
evacuated the next, just time enough to save their heavy 
baggage and fleet of transports from capture by the French 
Admiral d'Estaing, who arrived at the mouth of the Dela- 
ware soon after. 

The capture of Burgoyne gave an eclat in Europe to the 



I79 6 l LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 249 

American arms, and facilitated the alliance with France. 
The eclat, however, was not kept up by any thing on the 
part of General Washington. The same unfortunate lan- 
guor that marked his entrance into the field, continued al- 
ways. Discontent began to prevail strongly against him, 
and a party was formed in Congress, whilst sitting at York- 
town, in Pennsylvania, for removing him from the com- 
mand of the army. The hope, however, of better times, 
the news of the alliance with France, and the unwillingness 
of shewing discontent, dissipated the matter. 

Nothing was done in the campaigns of 1778, 1779, 1780, 
in the part where General Washington commanded, except 
the taking of Stony Point by General Wayne. The South- 
ern States in the mean time were over-run by the enemy. 
They were afterwards recovered by General Greene, who 
had in a very great measure created the army that accom- 
plished that recovery. In all this General Washington had 
no share. The Fabian system of war, followed by him, be- 
gan now to unfold itself with all its evils ; but what is Fa- 
bian war without Fabian means to support it ? The finances 
of Congress depending wholly on emissions of paper money, 
were exhausted. Its credit was gone. The continental treas- 
ury was not able to pay the expense of a brigade of waggons 
to transport the necessary stores to the army, and yet the 
sole object, the establishment of the revolution, was a thing 
of remote distance. The time I am now speaking of is in 
the latter end of the year 1780. 

In this situation of things it was found not only expedient, 
but absolutely necessary, for Congress to state the whole 
case to its ally. I knew more of this matter, (before it came 
into Congress or was known to General Washington) of its 
progress, and its issue, than I chuse to state in this letter. 
Colonel John Laurens was sent to France as an Envoy Ex- 
traordinary on this occasion, and by a private agreement be- 
tween him and me I accompanied him. We sailed from 
Boston in the Alliance frigate, February nth, 1781. France 
had already done much in accepting and paying bills drawn 
by Congress. She was now called upon to do more. The 



2$0 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

event of Colonel Laurens's mission, with the aid of the vener- 
able Minister, Franklin, was, that France gave in money, as 
a present, six millions of livres, and ten millions more as a 
loan, and agreed to send a fleet of not less than thirty sail of 
the line, at her own expense, as an aid to America. Colonel 
Laurens and myself returned from Brest the 1st of June fol- 
lowing, taking with us two millions and a half of livres (up- 
wards of one hundred thousand pounds sterling) of the 
money given, and convoying two ships with stores. 

We arrived at Boston the 25th of August following. De 
Grasse arrived with the French fleet in the Chesapeak at 
the same time, and was afterwards joined by that of Barras, 
making 31 sail of the line. The money was transported in 
waggons from Boston to the Bank at Philadelphia, of which 
Mr. Thomas Willing, who has since put himself at the head 
of the list of petitioners in favour of the British treaty, was 
then President. And it was by the aid of this money, and 
this fleet, and of Rochambeau's army, that Cornwallis was 
taken ; the laurels of which have been unjustly given to Mr. 
Washington. His merit in that affair was no more than that 
of any other American officer. 

I have had, and still have, as much pride in the American 
revolution as any man, or as Mr. Washington has a right to 
have ; but that pride has never made me forgetful whence 
the great aid came that compleated the business. Foreign 
aid (that of France) was calculated upon at the commence- 
ment of the revolution. It is one of the subjects treated of 
in the pamphlet Common Sense, but as a matter that could 
not be hoped for, unless independence was declared. 1 The 
aid, however, was greater than could have been expected. 

It is as well the ingratitude as the pusillanimity of Mr. 
Washington, and the Washington faction, that has brought 
upon America the loss of character she now suffers in the 
world, and the numerous evils her commerce has undergone, 
and to which it is yet exposed. The British Ministry soon 
found out what sort of men they had to deal with, and they 

1 See vol. i. of this work, p. III. Paine was sharply taken to task on this 
point by " Cato." lb., pp. 145-147. — Editor. 



I79 6 ] LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 25 1 

dealt with them accordingly ; and if further explanation was 
wanting, it has been fully given since, in the snivelling ad- 
dress of the New York Chamber of Commerce to the Presi- 
dent, and in that of sundry merchants of Philadelphia, which 
was not much better. 

When the revolution of America was finally established by 
the termination of the war, the world gave her credit for 
great character ; and she had nothing to do but to stand firm 
upon that ground. The British ministry had their hands too 
full of trouble to have provoked a rupture with her, had 
she shown a proper resolution to defend her rights. But en- 
couraged as they were by the submissive character of the 
American administration, they proceeded from insult to in- 
sult, till none more were left to be offered. The proposals 
made by Sweden and Denmark to the American administra- 
tion were disregarded. I know not if so much as an answer 
has been returned to them. The minister penitentiary, (as 
some of the British prints called him,) Mr. Jay, was sent on 
a pilgrimage to London, to make up all by penance and 
petition. In the mean time the lengthy and drowsy writer 
of the pieces signed Camillus held himself in reserve to vindi- 
cate every thing; and to sound in America the tocsin of 
terror upon the inexhaustible resources of England. Her 
resources, says he, are greater than those of all the other 
powers. This man is so intoxicated with fear and finance,, 
that he knows not the difference between plus and minus — 
between a hundred pounds in hand, and a hundred pounds 
worse than nothing. 

The commerce of America, so far as it had been estab- 
lished by all the treaties that had been formed prior to that 
by Jay, was free, and the principles upon which it was 
established were good. That ground ought never to have 
been departed from. It was the justifiable ground of right, 
and no temporary difficulties ought to have induced an 
abandonment of it. The case is now otherwise. The ground, 
the scene, the pretensions, the everything, are changed. The 
commerce of America is, by Jay's treaty, put under foreign 
dominion. The sea is not free for her. Her right to navi- 



252 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

gate it is reduced to the right of escaping ; that is, until 
some ship of England or France stops her vessels, and carries 
them into port. Every article of American produce, whether 
from the sea or the sand, fish, flesh, vegetable, or manufac- 
ture, is, by Jay's treaty, made either contraband or seizable. 
Nothing is exempt. In all other treaties of commerce, the 
article which enumerates the contraband articles, such as 
fire arms, gunpowder, &c, is followed by another article 
which enumerates the articles not contraband : but it is not 
so in Jay's treaty. There is no exempting article. Its place 
is supplied by the article for seizing and carrying into port ; 
and the sweeping phrase of " provisions and other articles " 
includes every thing. There never was such a base and 
servile treaty of surrender since treaties began to exist. 

This is the ground upon which America now stands. 
All her rights of commerce and navigation are to begin 
anew, and that with loss of character to begin with. If there 
is sense enough left in the heart to call a blush into the 
cheek, the Washington administration must be ashamed to 
appear. — And as to you, Sir, treacherous in private friendship 
(for so you have been to me, and that in the day of danger) 
and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to 
decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether 
you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever 
had any. 

Thomas Paine. 




XXIII. 
OBSERVATIONS. 1 

The United States of America are negociating with Spain 
respecting the free Navigation of the Mississippi, and the 
territorial limits of this large river, in conformity with the 
Treaty of Peace with England dated 30th November, 1782. 
As the brilliant successes of the French Republic have 
forced England to grant us, what was in all justice our due, 
so the continuation of the prosperity of the Republic, will 
force Spain to make a Treaty with us on the points in con- 
troversy. 

Since it is certain that all that we shall obtain from Spain 
will be due to the victories of France, and as the inhabi- 
tants of the western part of the United States (which part 
contains or covers more than half the United States), have 
decided to claim their rights to the free navigation of the 
Mississippi, would it not be a wiser policy for the Repub- 
lican Government (who have only to command to obtain) to 
arrogate all the merit, by making our demands to Spain, 
one of the conditions, of France, to consent to restore peace 
to the Castilians. They have only to declare, they will 
not make Peace, or that they will support with all their 
might, the just reclamations of their allies against these 
Powers, — against England for the surrender of the frontier 
posts, and for the indemnities due through their depreda- 
tions on our Trade, and against Spain for our territorial 
limits, and the free navigation of the Mississippi. This 

1 State Archives, Paris, Etats Unis, vol. 43, fol. 100. Undated, but evi- 
dentl-- written early in the year 1795, when Jay's Treaty was as yet unknown. 
Paine was then staying in the house of the American Minister, Monroe.— 
Editor. 



254 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

declaration would certainly not prolong the War a single 
day more, nor cost the Republic an obole, whilst it would 
assure all the merit of success to France, and besides pro- 
duce all the good effects mentioned above. 

It may perhaps be observed that the Negociation is al- 
ready finished with England, and perhaps in a manner which 
will not be approved of by France. That may be, (though 
the terms of this arrangement may not be known) ; but as to 
Spain, the negociation is still pending, and it is evident that 
if France makes the above Declaration as to this Power 
(which declaration would be a demonstrative proof of what 
she would have done in the other case if circumstances had 
required it), she would receive the same credit as if the 
Declaration had been made relatively to the two Powers. 
In fact the Decree or resolution (and perhaps this last would 
be preferable) can be worded in terms which would declare 
that in case the arrangement with England were not satis- 
factory, France will nevertheless, maintain the just demands 
of America against that Power. A like Declaration, in case 
Mr. Jay should do anything reprehensible, and which might 
even be approved of in America, would certainly raise the 
reputation of the French Republic to the most eminent 
degree of splendour, and lower in proportion that of her 
enemies. 

It is very certain that France cannot better favour the 
views of the British party in America, and wound in a most 
sensible manner the Republican Government of this coun- 
try, than by adopting a strict and oppressive policy with re- 
gard to us. Every one knows that the injustices committed 
by the privateers and other ships belonging to the French 
Republic against our navigation, were causes of exultation 
and joy to this party, even when their own properties were 
subjected to these depredations, whilst the friends of 
France and the Revolution were vexed and most confused 
about it. It follows then, that a generous policy would 
produce quite opposite effects — it would acquire for France 
the merit that is her due ; it would discourage the hopes of 
her adversaries, and furnish the friends of humanity and 



1795] OBSERVATIONS. 255 

liberty with the means of acting against the intrigues of 
England, and cement the Union, and contribute towards the 
true interests of the two republics. 

So sublime and generous a manner of acting, which would 
not cost anything to France, would cement in a stronger 
way the ties between the two republics. The effect of such 
an event, would confound and annihilate in an irrevocable 
manner all the partisans for the British in America. There 
are nineteen twentieths of our nation attached through in- 
clination and gratitude to France, and the small number 
who seek uselessly all sorts of pretexts to magnify the small 
occasions of complaint which might have subsisted previously 
will find itself reduced to silence, or have to join their ex- 
pressions of gratitude to ours. — The results of this event 
cannot be doubted, though not reckoned on : all the Ameri- 
can hearts will be French, and England will be afflicted. 

An American. 




XXIV. 

DISSERTATION ON FIRST PRINCIPLES OF 
GOVERNMENT. 1 

There is no subject more interesting to every man than 
the subject of government. His security, be he rich or poor, 
and in a great measure his prosperity, are connected there- 
with ; it is therefore his interest as well as his duty to make 
himself acquainted with its principles, and what the practice 
ought to be. 

Every art and science, however imperfectly known at first, 
has been studied, improved, and brought to what we call 
perfection by the progressive labours of succeeding genera- 
tions ; but the science of government has stood still. No 
improvement has been made in the principle and scarcely 
any in the practice till the American revolution began. In 
all the countries of Europe (except in France) the same 

1 Printed from the first edition, whose title is as above, with the addition : 
" By Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense ; Rights of Man ; Age of Reason. 
Paris, Printed at the English Press, rue de Vaugerard, No. 970. Third year of 
the French Republic." The pamphlet seems to have appeared early in July (per- 
haps the Fourth), 1795, and was meant to influence the decision of the National 
Convention on the Constitution then under discussion. This Constitution, 
adopted September 23d, presently swept away by Napoleon, contained some 
features which appeared to Paine reactionary. Those to which he most objected 
are quoted by him in his speech in the Convention, which is bound up in the 
same pamphlet, and follows this "Dissertation" in the present volume. In 
the Constitution as adopted Paine's preference for a plural Executive was estab- 
lished, and though the bicameral organization (the Council of Five Hundred 
and the Council of Ancients) was not such as he desired, his chief objection was 
based on his principle of manhood suffrage. But in regard to this see Paine's 
" Dissertations on Government," written nine years before (vol. ii., ch. vi. of 
this work), and especially p. 138 seq. of that volume, where he indicates the 
method of restraining the despotism of numbers. — Editor. 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 2$? 

forms and systems that were erected in the remote ages of 
ignorance still continue, and their antiquity is put in the 
place of principle ; it is forbidden to investigate their origin, 
or by what right they exist. If it be asked how has this 
happened, the answer is easy : they are established on a 
principle that is false, and they employ their power to pre- 
vent detection. 

Notwithstanding the mystery with which the science of 
government has been enveloped, for the purpose of enslav- 
ing, plundering, and imposing upon mankind, it is of all 
things the least mysterious and the most easy to be under- 
stood. The meanest capacity cannot be at a loss, if it begins 
its enquiries at the right point. Every art and science has 
some point, or alphabet, at which the study of that art or 
science begins, and by the assistance of which the progress 
is facilitated. The same method ought to be observed with 
respect to the science of government. 

Instead then of embarrassing the subject in the outset 
with the numerous subdivisions under which different forms 
of government have been classed, such as aristocracy, de- 
mocracy, oligarchy, monarchy, &c. the better method will 
be to begin with what may be called primary divisions, or 
those under which all the several subdivisions will be com- 
prehended. 

The primary divisions are but two : 

First, government by election and representation. 

Secondly, government by hereditary succession. 

All the several forms and systems of government, however 
numerous or diversified, class themselves under one or other 
of those primary divisions ; for either they are on the system 
of representation, or on that of hereditary succession. As 
to that equivocal thing called mixed government, such as 
the late government of Holland, and the present government 
of England, it does not make an exception to the general 
rule, because the parts separately considered are either rep- 
resentative or hereditary. 

Beginning then our enquiries at this point, we have first 
to examine into the nature of those two primary divisions. 

VOL. III. — 17 



258 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

If they are equally right in principle, it is mere matter of 
opinion which we prefer. If the one be demonstratively 
better than the other, that difference directs our choice ; but 
if one of them should be so absolutely false as not to have a 
right to existence, the matter settles itself at once ; because 
a negative proved on one thing, where two only are offered, 
and one must be accepted, amounts to an affirmative on the 
other. 

The revolutions that are now spreading themselves in the 
world have their origin in this state of the case, and the 
present war is a conflict between the representative system 
founded on the rights of the people, and the hereditary sys- 
tem founded in usurpation. As to what are called Monarchy, 
Royalty, and Aristocracy, they do not, either as things or as 
terms, sufficiently describe the hereditary system ; they are 
but secondary things or signs of the hereditary system, and 
which fall of themselves if that system has not a right to 
exist. Were there no such terms as Monarchy, Royalty, 
and Aristocracy, or were other terms substituted in their 
place, the hereditary system, if it continued, would not be 
altered thereby. It would be the same system under any 
other titulary name as it is now. 

The character therefore of the revolutions of the present 
day distinguishes itself most definitively by grounding itself 
on the system of representative government, in opposition 
to the hereditary. No other distinction reaches the whole 
of the principle. 

Having thus opened the case generally, I proceed, in the 
first place, to examine the hereditary system, because it has 
the priority in point of time. The representative system is 
the invention of the modern world ; and, that no doubt may 
arise as to my own opinion, I declare it before hand, which 
is, that there is not a problem in Euclid more mathematically 
true, than that hereditary government has not a rig] it to exist. 
When therefore we take from any man the exercise of hered- 
itary power, we take azvay that which he never had the right 
to possess, and which no law or custom could, or ever can, give 
him a title to. 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 259 

The arguments that have hitherto been employed against 
the hereditary system have been chiefly founded upon the 
absurdity of it, and its incompetency to the purpose of good 
government. Nothing can present to our judgment, or to 
our imagination, a figure of greater absurdity, than that of 
seeing the government of a nation fall, as it frequently does, 
into the hands of a lad necessarily destitute of experience, 
and often little better than a fool. It is an insult to every 
man of years, of character, and of talents, in a country. The 
moment we begin to reason upon the hereditary system, it 
falls into derision ; let but a single idea begin, and a thousand 
will soon follow. Insignificance, imbecility, childhood, do- 
tage, want of moral character ; in fine, every defect serious 
or laughable unite to hold up the hereditary system as a 
figure of ridicule. Leaving, however, the ridiculousness of 
the thing to the reflections of the reader, I proceed to the 
more important part of the question, namely, whether such 
a system has a right to exist. 

To be satisfied of the right of a thing to exist, we must be 
satisfied that it had a right to begin. If it had not a right 
to begin, it has not a right to continue. By what right then 
did the hereditary system begin ? Let a man but ask him- 
self this question, and he will find that he cannot satisfy 
himself with an answer. 

The right which any man or any family had to set itself 
up at first to govern a nation, and to establish itself heredi- 
tarily, was no other than the right which Robespierre had 
to do the same thing in France. If he had none, they had 
none. If they had any, he had as much ; for it is impossible 
to discover superiority of right in any family, by virtue of 
which hereditary government could begin, The Capets, the 
Guelphs, the Robespierres, the Marats, are all on the same 
standing as to the question of right. It belongs exclusively 
to none. 

It is one step towards liberty, to perceive that hereditary 
government could not begin as an exclusive right in any 
family. The next point will be, whether, having once 
begun, it could grow into a right by the influence of time. 



26o THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i795 

This would be supposing an absurdity; for either it is 
putting time in the place of principle, or making it superior 
to principle ; whereas time has no more connection with, or 
influence upon principle, than principle has upon time. The 
wrong which began a thousand years ago, is as much a 
wrong as if it began to-day ; and the right which originates 
to-day, is as much a right as if it had the sanction of a 
thousand years. Time with respect to principles is an eter- 
nal NOW : it has no operation upon them : it changes noth- 
ing of their nature and qualities. But what have we to do 
with a thousand years ? Our life-time is but a short portion 
of that period, and if we find the wrong in existence as soon 
as we begin to live, that is the point of time at which it 
begins to us ; and our right to resist it is the same as if it 
never existed before. 

As hereditary government could not begin as a natural 
right in any family, nor derive after its commencement any 
right from time, we have only to examine whether there 
exist in a nation a right to set it up, and establish it by 
what is called law, as has been done in England. I answer 
NO ; and that any law or any constitution made for that pur- 
pose is an act of treason against the right of every minor in 
the nation, at the time it is made, and against the rights of 
all succeeding generations. I shall speak upon each of those 
cases. First, of the minor at the time such law is made. 
Secondly, of the generations that are to follow. 

A nation, in a collective sense, comprehends all the indi- 
viduals of whatever age, from just born to just dying. Of 
these, one part will be minors, and the other aged. The 
average of life is not exactly the same in every climate and 
country, but in general, the minority in years are the major- 
ity in numbers ; that is, the number of persons under twenty- 
one years, is greater than the number of persons above that 
age. This difference in number is not necessary to the 
establishment of the principle I mean to lay down, but it 
serves to shew the justice of it more strongly. The princi- 
ple would be equally as good, if the majority in years were 
also the majority in numbers. 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 26 1 

The rights of minors are as sacred as the rights of the 
aged. The difference is altogether in the different age of 
the two parties, and nothing in the nature of the rights ; the 
rights are the same rights ; and are to be preserved inviolate 
for the inheritance of the minors when they shall come of 
age. During the minority of minors their rights are under 
the sacred guardianship of the aged. The minor cannot sur- 
render them ; the guardian cannot dispossess him ; conse- 
quently, the aged part of a nation, who are the law-makers 
for the time being, and who, in the march of life are but a 
few years ahead of those who are yet minors, and to whom 
they must shortly give place, have not and cannot have the 
right to make a law to set up and establish hereditary gov- 
ernment, or, to speak more distinctly, an hereditary succes- 
sion of governors ; because it is an attempt to deprive every 
minor in the nation, at the time such a law is made, of his 
inheritance of rights when he shall come of age, and to 
subjugate him to a system of government to which, during 
his minority, he could neither consent nor object. 

If a person who is a minor at the time such a law is pro- 
posed, had happened to have been born a few years sooner, 
so as to be of the age of twenty-one years at the time of 
proposing it, his right to have objected against it, to have 
exposed the injustice and tyrannical principles of it, and to 
have voted against it, will be admitted on all sides. If, 
therefore, the law operates to prevent his exercising the 
same rights after he comes of age as he would have had a 
right to exercise had he been of age at the time, it is unde- 
niably a law to take away and annul the rights of every 
person in the nation who shall be a minor at the time of 
making such a law, and consequently the right to make it 
cannot exist. 

I come now to speak of government by hereditary succes- 
sion, as it applies to succeeding generations ; and to shew 
that in this case, as in the case of minors, there does not 
exist in a nation a right to set it up. 

A nation, though continually existing, is continually in a 
state of renewal and succession. It is never stationary. 



262 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

Every day produces new births, carries minors forward to 
maturity, and old persons from the stage. In this ever 
running flood of generations there is no part superior in 
authority to another. Could we conceive an idea of supe- 
riority in any, at what point of time, or in what century of 
the world, are we to fix it ? To what cause are we to ascribe 
it? By what evidence are we to prove it? By what cri- 
terion are we to know it? A single reflection will teach us 
that our ancestors, like ourselves, were but tenants for life 
in the great freehold of rights. The fee-absolute was not in 
them, it is not in us, it belongs to the whole family of man, 
thro' all ages. If we think otherwise than this, we think 
either as slaves or as tyrants. As slaves, if we think that 
any former generation had a right to bind us ; as tyrants, if 
we think that we have authority to bind the generations 
that are to follow. 

It may not be inapplicable to the subject, to endeavour to 
define what is to be understood by a generation, in the sense 
the word is here used. 

As a natural term its meaning is sufficiently clear. The 
father, the son, the grandson, are so many distinct genera- 
tions. But when we speak of a generation as describing the 
persons in whom legal authority resides, as distinct from 
another generation of the same description who are to suc- 
ceed them, it comprehends all those who are above the age 
of twenty-one years, at the time that we count from ; and a 
generation of this kind will continue in authority between 
fourteen and twenty-one years, that is, until the number of 
minors, who shall have arrived at age, shall be greater than 
the number of persons remaining of the former stock. 

For example : if France, at this or any other moment, 
contains twenty-four millions of souls, twelve millions will 
be males, and twelve females. Of the twelve millions of 
males, six millions will be of the age of twenty-one years, 
and six will be under, and the authority to govern will reside 
in the first six. But every day will make some alteration, 
and in twenty-one years every one of those minors who 
survives will have arrived at age, and the greater part 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT, 263 

of the former stock will be gone : the majority of persons 
then living, in whom the legal authority resides, will be 
composed of those who, twenty-one years before, had no 
legal existence. Those will be fathers and grandfathers in 
their turn, and, in the next twenty-one years, (or less) an- 
other race of minors, arrived at age, will succeed them, and 
so on. 

As this is ever the case, and as every generation is equal 
in rights to another, it consequently follows, that there can- 
not be a right in any to establish government by hereditary 
succession, because it would be supposing itself possessed of 
a right superior to the rest, namely, that of commanding by 
its own authority how the world shall be hereafter governed, 
and who shall govern it. Every age and generation is, and 
must be, (as a matter of right,) as free to act for itself in all 
cases, as the age and generation that preceded it. The 
vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave is 
the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies. Man has 
no property in man, neither has one generation a property 
in the generations that are to follow. 

In the first part of the Rights of Man I have spoken of 
government by hereditary succession ; and I will here close 
the subject with an extract from that work, which states it 
under the two following heads. 1 * * * 

The history of the English parliament furnishes an exam- 
ple of this kind ; and which merits to be recorded, as being 
the greatest instance of legislative ignorance and want of 
principle that is to be found in any country. The case is as 
follows : 

The English parliament of 1688, imported a man and his 
wife from Holland, William and Mary, and made them king 
and queen of England. 2 Having done this, the said parlia- 

1 The quotation, here omitted, will be found in vol. ii. of this work, begin- 
ning with p. 364, and continuing, with a few omissions, to the 15th line of p. 
366. This " Dissertation" was originally written for circulation in Holland, 
where Paine's " Rights of Man " was not well known. — Editor. 

2 " The Bill of Rights {temp. William III.) shows that the Lords and Com- 
mons met not in Parliament but in convention, that they declared against 
James II., and in favour of William III. The latter was accepted as sovereign, 



264 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [ 1 79S 

ment made a law to convey the government of the country 
to the heirs of William and Mary, in the following words : 
" We, the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, do, 
in the name of the people of England, most humbly and 
faithfully submit ourselves, our heirs, and posterities, to 
William and Mary, their heirs and posterities, for ever." 
And in a subsequent law, as quoted by Edmund Burke, the 
said parliament, in the name of the people of England then 
living, binds the said people, their heirs and posterities, to 
William and Mary, their heirs and posterities, to the end of 
time. 

It is not sufficient that we laugh at the ignorance of such 
law-makers ; it is necessary that we reprobate their want of 
principle. The constituent assembly of France, 1789, fell 
into the same vice as the parliament of England had done, 
and assumed to establish an hereditary succession in the 
family of the Capets, as an act of the constitution of that 
year. That every nation, for the time being, has a right to 
govern itself as it pleases, must always be admitted ; but 
government by hereditary succession is government for an- 
other race of people, and not for itself ; and as those on 
whom it is to operate are not yet in existence, or are minors, 
so neither is the right in existence to set it up for them, 
and to assume such a right is treason against the right of 
posterity. 

I here close the arguments on the first head, that of gov- 
ernment by hereditary succession ; and proceed to the sec- 
ond, that of government by election and representation ; or, 
as it may be concisely expressed, representative government, 
in contra-distinction to hereditary government. 

Reasoning by exclusion, if hereditary governme?it has not 
a right to exist, and that it has not is proveable, representa- 
tive government is admitted of course. 

In contemplating government by election and representa- 

and, when monarch, Acts of Parliament were passed confirming what had been 
done." — Joseph Fisher in A r otes atid Queries { London), May 2, 1874. This does 
not affect Paine's argument, as a Convention could have no more right to bind 
the future than a Parliament. — Editor. 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 26$ 

tion, we amuse not ourselves in enquiring when or how, or 
by what right, it began. Its origin is ever in view. Man is 
himself the origin and the evidence of the right. It apper- 
tains to him in right of his existence, and his person is the 
title deed. 1 

The true and only true basis of representative government 
is equality of Rights. Every man has a right to one vote, 
and no more, in the choice of representatives. The rich 
have no more right to exclude the poor from the right of 
voting, or of electing and being elected, than the poor have 
to exclude the rich ; and wherever it is attempted, or pro- 
posed, on either side, it is a question of force and not of 
right. Who is he that would exclude another ? That other 
has a right to exclude him. 

That which is now called aristocracy implies an inequality 
of rights ; but who are the persons that have a right to 
establish this inequality ? Will the rich exclude themselves ? 
No. Will the poor exclude themselves? No. By what 
right then can any be excluded ? It would be a question, if 
any man or class of men have a right to exclude themselves ; 
but, be this as it may, they cannot have the right to exclude 
another. The poor will not delegate such a right to the 
rich, nor the rich to the poor, and to assume it is not only 
to assume arbitrary power, but to assume a right to commit 
robbery. Personal rights, of which the right of voting for 
representatives is one, are a species of property of the most 
sacred kind : and he that would employ his pecuniary prop- 
erty, or presume upon the influence it gives him, to dis- 
possess or rob another of his property of rights, uses that 
pecuniary property as he would use fire-arms, and merits to 
have it taken from him. 

1 * ' The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old 
parchments or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole 
volume of human nature by the hand of Divinity itself, and can never be erased 
or obscured by mortal power." — Alexander Hamilton, 1775. (Cf. Rights of 
Man, vol. ii., p. 304 : " Portions of antiquity by proving everything establish 
nothing. It is authority against authority all the way, till we come to the 
divine origin of the rights of man at the creation. " — Editor. 



266 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

Inequality of rights is created by a combination in one 
part of the community to exclude another part from its 
rights. Whenever it be made an article of a constitution, 
or a law, that the right of voting, or of electing and being 
elected, shall appertain exclusively to persons possessing a 
certain quantity of property, be it little or much, it is a com- 
bination of the persons possessing that quantity to exclude 
those who do not possess the same quantity. It is investing 
themselves with powers as a self-created part of society, to 
the exclusion of the rest. 

It is always to be taken for granted, that those who oppose 
an equality of rights never mean the exclusion should take 
place on themselves ; and in this view of the case, pardoning 
the vanity of the thing, aristocracy is a subject of laughter. 
This self-soothing vanity is encouraged by another idea not 
less selfish, which is, that the opposers conceive they are 
playing a safe game, in which there is a chance to gain and 
none to lose ; that at any rate the doctrine of equality in- 
cludes them, and that if they cannot get more rights than 
those whom they oppose and would exclude, they shall not 
have less. This opinion has already been fatal to thou- 
sands, who, not contented with equal rights, have sought 
more till they lost all, and experienced in themselves the 
degrading inequality they endeavoured to fix upon others. 

In any view of the case it is dangerous and impolitic, 
sometimes ridiculous, and always unjust, to make property 
the criterion of the right of voting. If the sum or value of 
the property upon which the right is to take place be con- 
siderable, it will exclude a majority of the people, and unite 
them in a common interest against the government and 
against those who support it ; and as the power is always 
with the majority, they can overturn such a government and 
its supporters whenever they please. 

If, in order to avoid this danger, a small quantity of prop- 
erty be fixed, as the criterion of the right, it exhibits liberty 
in disgrace, by putting it in competition with accident and 
insignificance. When a brood-mare shall fortunately pro- 
duce a foal or a mule that, by being worth the sum in ques- 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 267 

tion, shall convey to its owner the right of voting, or by its 
death take it from him, in whom does the origin of such a 
right exist ? Is it in the man, or in the mule ? When we 
consider how many ways property may be acquired without 
merit, and lost without a crime, we ought to spurn the idea 
of making it a criterion of rights. 

But the offensive part of the case is, that this exclusion 
from the right of voting implies a stigma on the moral char- 
acter of the persons excluded ; and this is what no part of 
the community has a right to pronounce upon another part. 
No external circumstance can justify it : wealth is no proof 
of moral character ; nor poverty of the want of it. On the 
contrary, wealth is often the presumptive evidence of dis- 
honesty ; and poverty the negative evidence of innocence. 
If therefore property, whether little or much, be made a cri- 
terion, the means by which that property has been acquired 
ought to be made a criterion also. 

The only ground upon which exclusion from the right of 
voting is consistent with justice, would be to inflict it as a 
punishment for a certain time upon those who should pro- 
pose to take away that right from others. The right of 
voting for representatives is the primary right by which 
other rights are protected. To take away this right is to re- 
duce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject 
to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the elec- 
tion of representatives is in this case. The proposal there- 
fore to disfranchise any class of men is as criminal as the 
proposal to take away property. When we speak of right, 
we ought always to unite with it the idea of duties : rights 
become duties by reciprocity. The right which I enjoy be- 
comes my duty to guarantee it to another, and he to me ; 
and those who violate the duty justly incur a forfeiture of 
the right. 

In a political view of the case, the strength and permanent 
security of government is in proportion to the number of 
people interested in supporting it. The true policy there- 
fore is to interest the whole by an equality of rights, for the 
danger arises from exclusions. It is possible to exclude 



268 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

men from the right of voting, but it is impossible to exclude 
them from the right of rebelling against that exclusion ; and 
when all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion 
is made perfect. 

While men could be persuaded they had no rights, or that 
rights appertained only to a certain class of men, or that 
government was a thing existing in right of itself, it was not 
difficult to govern them authoritatively. The ignorance in 
which they were held, and the superstition in which they 
were instructed, furnished the means of doing it. But when 
the ignorance is gone, and the superstition with it ; when 
they perceive the imposition that has been acted upon them ; 
when they reflect that the cultivator and the manufacturer 
are the primary means of all the wealth that exists in the 
world, beyond what nature spontaneously produces ; when 
they begin to feel their consequence by their usefulness, and 
their right as members of society, it is then no longer possi- 
ble to govern them as before. The fraud once detected can- 
not be re-acted. To attempt it is to provoke derision, or 
invite destruction. 

That property will ever be unequal is certain. Industry, 
superiority of talents, dexterity of management, extreme 
frugality, fortunate opportunities, or the opposite, or the 
means of those things, will ever produce that effect, without 
having recourse to the harsh, ill sounding names of avarice 
and oppression ; and besides this, there are some men who, 
though they do not despise wealth, will not stoop to the 
drudgery or the means of acquiring it, nor will be troubled 
with it beyond their wants or their independence ; whilst in 
others there is an avidity to obtain it by every means not 
punishable ; it makes the sole business of their lives, and they 
follow it as a religion. All that is required with respect to 
property is to obtain it honestly, and not employ it crimi- 
nally ; but it is always criminally employed when it is made 
a criterion for exclusive rights. 

In institutions that are purely pecuniary, such as that of a 
bank or a commercial company, the rights of the members 
composing that company are wholly created by the property 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 269 

they invest therein ; and no other rights are represented in 
the government of that company, than what arise out of that 
property ; neither has that government cognizance of any 
thing but property. 

But the case is totally different with respect to the institu- 
tion of civil government, organized on the system of repre- 
sentation. Such a government has cognizance of every things 
and of every man as a member of the national society, 
whether he has property or not ; and, therefore, the principle 
requires that every man, and every kind of right, be repre- 
sented, of which the right to acquire and to hold property is 
but one, and that not of the most essential kind. The pro- 
tection of a man's person is more sacred than the protection 
of property ; and besides this, the faculty of performing any 
kind of work or services by which he acquires a livelihood, 
or maintaining his family, is of the nature of property. It is 
property to him ; he has acquired it ; and it is as much the 
object of his protection as exterior property, possessed with- 
out that faculty, can be the object of protection in another 
person. 

I have always believed that the best security for property, 
be it much or little, is to remove from every part of the com- 
munity, as far as can possibly be done, every cause of com- 
plaint, and every motive to violence ; and this can only be 
done by an equality of rights. When rights are secure, prop- 
erty is secure in consequence. But when property is made 
a pretence for unequal or exclusive rights, it weakens the 
right to hold the property, and provokes indignation and 
tumult ; for it is unnatural to believe that property can be 
secure under the guarantee of a society injured in its rights 
by the influence of that property. 

Next to the injustice and ill-policy of making property a 
pretence for exclusive rights, is the unaccountable absurdity 
of giving to mere sound the idea of property, and annexing 
to it certain rights ; for what else is a title but sound ? Nature 
is often giving to the world some extraordinary men who 
arrive at fame by merit and universal consent, such as Aris- 
totle, Socrates, Plato, &c. They were truly great or noble. 



270 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [^795 

But when government sets up a manufactory of nobles, it is 
as absurd as if she undertook to manufacture wise men. Her 
nobles are all counterfeits. 

This wax-work order has assumed the name of aristocracy • 
and the disgrace of it would be lessened if it could be con- 
sidered only as childish imbecility. We pardon foppery be- 
cause of its insignificance, and on the same ground we might 
pardon the foppery of Titles. But the origin of aristocracy 
was worse than foppery. It was robbery. The first aristocrats 
in all countries were brigands. Those of later times, syco- 
phants. 

It is very well known that in England, (and the same will 
be found in other countries) the great landed estates now 
held in descent were plundered from the quiet inhabitants at 
the conquest. The possibility did not exist of acquiring such 
estates honestly. If it be asked how they could have been 
acquired, no answer but that of robbery can be given. That 
they were not acquired by trade, by commerce, by manufac- 
tures, by agriculture, or by any reputable employment, is 
certain. How then were they acquired ? Blush, aristocracy, 
to hear your origin, for your progenitors were Thieves. 
They were the Robespierres and the Jacobins of that day. 
When they had committed the robbery, they endeavoured to 
lose the disgrace of it by sinking their real names under fic- 
titious ones, which they called Titles. It is ever the practice 
of Felons to act in this manner. They never pass by their 
real names. 1 

As property, honestly obtained, is best secured by an 
equality of Rights, so ill-gotten property depends for protec- 
tion on a monopoly of rights. He who has robbed another 
of his property, will next endeavour to disarm him of his 
rights, to secure that property ; for when the robber becomes 
the legislator he believes himself secure. That part of the 
government of England that is called the house of lords, was 
originally composed of persons who had committed the rob- 

1 This and the preceding paragraph have been omitted from some editions. — 
Editor. 



J 795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 2*Jl 

beries of which I have been speaking. It was an association 
for the protection of the property they had stolen. 

But besides the criminality of the origin of aristocracy, it 
has an injurious effect on the moral and physical character 
of man. Like slavery it debilitates the human faculties ; for 
as the mind bowed down by slavery loses in silence its elastic 
powers, so, in the contrary extreme, when it is buoyed up by 
folly, it becomes incapable of exerting them, and dwindles 
into imbecility. It is impossible that a mind employed upon 
ribbands and titles can ever be great. The childishness of 
the objects consumes the man. 

It is at all times necessary, and more particularly so during 
the progress of a revolution, and until right ideas confirm 
themselves by habit, that we frequently refresh our patriot- 
ism by reference to first principles. It is by tracing things to 
their origin that we learn to understand them : and it is by 
keeping that line and that origin always in view that we 
never forget them. 

An enquiry into the origin of Rights will demonstrate to 
us that rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor 
from one class of men to another ; for who is he who could 
be the first giver, or by what principle, or on what authority, 
could he possess the right of giving ? A declaration of rights 
is not a creation of them, nor a donation of them. It is a 
manifest of the principle by which they exist, followed by a 
detail of what the rights are ; for every civil right has a natural 
right for its foundation, and it includes the principle of a 
reciprocal guarantee of those rights from man to man. As, 
therefore, it is impossible to discover any origin of rights 
otherwise than in the origin of man, it consequently follows, 
that rights appertain to man in right of his existence only, 
and must therefore be equal to every man. The principle of 
an equality of rights is clear and simple. Every man can 
understand it, and it is by understanding his rights that he 
learns his duties ; for where the rights of men are equal, every 
man must finally see the necessity of protecting the rights 
of others as the most effectual security for his own. But if, 
in the formation of a constitution, we depart from the prin- 



272 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l795 

ciple of equal rights, or attempt any modification of it, we 
plunge into a labyrinth of difficulties from which there is no 
way out but by retreating. Where are we to stop ? Or by 
what principle are we to find out the point to stop at, that 
shall discriminate between men of the same country, part of 
whom shall be free, and the rest not ? If property is to be 
made the criterion, it is a total departure from every moral 
principle of liberty, because it is attaching rights to mere 
matter, and making man the agent of that matter. It is, 
moreover, holding up property as an apple of discord, and 
not only exciting but justifying war against it ; for I main- 
tain the principle, that when property is used as an instru- 
ment to take away the rights of those who may happen not 
to possess property, it is used to an unlawful purpose, as 
fire-arms would be in a similar case. 

In a state of nature all men are equal in rights, but they 
are not equal in power ; the weak cannot protect themselves 
against the strong. This being the case, the institution of 
civil society is for the purpose of making an equalization of 
powers that shall be parallel to, and a guarantee of, the 
equality of rights. The laws of a country, when properly 
constructed, apply to this purpose. Every man takes the arm 
of the law for his protection as more effectual than his own ; 
and therefore every man has an equal right in the formation 
of the government, and of the laws by which he is to be 
governed and judged. In extensive countries and societies, 
such as America and France, this right in the individual can 
only be exercised by delegation, that is, by election and 
representation ; and hence it is that the institution of repre- 
sentative government arises. 

Hitherto, I have confined myself to matters of principle 
only. First, that hereditary government has not a right to 
exist ; that it cannot be established on any principle of right ; 
and that it is a violation of all principle. Secondly, that 
government by election and representation has its origin in 
the natural and eternal rights of man ; for whether a man be 
his own lawgiver, as he would be in a state of nature ; or 
whether he exercises his portion of legislative sovereignty in 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 2?$ 

his own person, as might be the case in small democracies 
where all could assemble for the formation of the laws by 
which they were to be governed ; or whether he exercises it 
in the choice of persons to represent him in a national assem- 
bly of representatives, the origin of the right is the same in 
all cases. The first, as is before observed, is defective in 
power ; the second, is practicable only in democracies of 
small extent; the third, is the greatest scale upon which 
human government can be instituted. 

Next to matters of principle are matters of opinion, and it 
is necessary to distinguish between the two. Whether the 
rights of men shall be equal is not a matter of opinion but 
of right, and consequently of principle ; for men do not hold 
their rights as grants from each other, but each one in right 
of himself. Society is the guardian but not the giver. And 
as in extensive societies, such as America and France, the 
right of the individual in matters of government cannot be 
exercised but by election and representation, it consequently 
follows that the only system of government consistent with 
principle, where simple democracy is impracticable, is the 
representative system. But as to the organical part, or the 
manner in which the several parts of government shall be 
arranged and composed, it is altogether matter of opinion. 
It is necessary that all the parts be conformable with the 
principle of equal rights ; and so long as this principle be 
religiously adhered to, no very material error can take place, 
neither can any error continue long in that part which falls 
within the province of opinion. 

In all matters of opinion, the social compact, or the 
principle by which society is held together, requires that 
the majority of opinions becomes the rule for the whole, and 
that the minority yields practical obedience thereto. This 
is perfectly conformable to the principle of equal rights: 
for, in the first place, every man has a right to give an opin- 
ion but no man has a right that his opinion should govern 
the rest. In the second place, it is not supposed to be known 
beforehand on which side of any question, whether for or 
against, any man's opinion will fall. He may happen to 



274 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

be in a majority upon some questions, and in a minority 
upon others ; and by the same rule that he expects obedi- 
ence in the one case, he must yield it in the other. All 
the disorders that have arisen in France, during the progress 
of the revolution, have had their origin, not in the principle 
of equal rights, but in the violation of that principle. The 
principle of equal rights has been repeatedly violated, and that 
not by the majority but by the minority, and that minority 
has been composed of men possessing property, as well as of men 
without property ; property, therefore, even upon the experience 
already had, is no more a criterion of character than it is 
of rights. It will sometimes happen that the minority are 
right, and the majority are wrong, but as soon as experience 
proves this to be the case, the minority will increase to a 
majority, and the error will reform itself by the tranquil opera- 
tion of freedom of opinion and equality of rights. Noth- 
ing, therefore, can justify an insurrection, neither can it ever 
be necessary where rights are equal and opinions free. 

Taking then the principle of equal rights as the foun- 
dation of the revolution, and consequently of the constitu- 
tion, the organical part, or the manner in which the several 
parts of the government shall be arranged in the constitu- 
tion, will, as is already said, fall within the province of 
opinion. 

Various methods will present themselves upon a ques- 
tion of this kind, and tho' experience is yet wanting to de- 
termine which is the best, it has, I think, sufficiently decided 
which is the worst. That is the worst, which in its delibera- 
tions and decisions is subject to the precipitancy and pas- 
sion of an individual ; and when the whole legislature is 
crowded into one body it is an individual in mass. In all 
cases of deliberation it is necessary to have a corps of re- 
serve, and it would be better to divide the representation 
by lot into two parts, and let them revise and correct each 
other, than that the whole should sit together, and debate at 
once. 

Representative government is not necessarily confined to 
any one particular form. The principle is the same in all 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 2?$ 

the forms under which it can be arranged. The equal rights 
of the people is the root from which the whole springs, and 
the branches may be arranged as present opinion or future 
experience shall best direct. As to that hospital of incura- 
bles (as Chesterfield calls it), the British house of peers, it is an 
excrescence growing out of corruption ; and there is no more 
affinity or resemblance between any of the branches of a 
legislative body originating from the right of the people, and 
the aforesaid house of peers, than between a regular member 
of the human body and an ulcerated wen. 

As to that part of government that is called the execu- 
tive, it is necessary in the first place to fix a precise meaning 
to the word. 

There are but two divisions into which power can be ar- 
ranged. First, that of willing or decreeing the laws ; 
secondly, that of executing or putting them in practice. 
The former corresponds to the intellectual faculties of the 
human mind, which reasons and determines what shall be 
done ; the second, to the mechanical powers of the human 
body, that puts that determination into practice. 1 If the for- 
mer decides, and the latter does not perform, it is a state of 
imbecility ; and if the latter acts without the predetermina- 
tion of the former, it is a state of lunacy. The executive 
department therefore is official, and is subordinate to the 
legislative, as the body is to the mind, in a state of health ; 
for it is impossible to conceive the idea of two sovereign- 
ties, a sovereignty to will, and a sovereignty to act. The 
executive is not invested with the power of deliberating 
whether it shall act or not ; it has no discretionary authority 
in the case ; for it can act no other thing than what the laws 
decree, and it is obliged to act conformably thereto ; and in 
this view of the case, the executive is made up of all the 
official departments that execute the laws, of which that 
which is called the judiciary is the chief. 

But mankind have conceived an idea that some kind of 
authority is necessary to superintend the execution of the 

1 Paine may have had in mind the five senses, with reference to the proposed 
iive members of the Directory. — Editor. 



276 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i795 

laws and to see that they are faithfully performed ; and it 
is by confounding this superintending authority with the 
official execution that we get embarrassed about the term 
executive power. All the parts in the governments of the 
United States of America that are called THE EXECUTIVE, 
are no other than authorities to superintend the execution 
of the laws ; and they are so far independent of the legisla- 
tive, that they know the legislative only thro' the laws, and 
cannot be controuled or directed by it through any other 
medium. 

In what manner this superintending authority shall be 
appointed, or composed, is a matter that falls within the 
province of opinion. Some may prefer one method and 
some another ; and in all cases, where opinion only and not 
principle is concerned, the majority of opinions forms the 
rule for all. There are however some things deducible from 
reason, and evidenced by experience, that serve to guide our 
decision upon the case. The one is, never to invest any 
individual with extraordinary power ; for besides his being 
tempted to misuse it, it will excite contention and commo- 
tion in the nation for the office. Secondly, never to invest 
power long in the hands of any number of individuals. The 
inconveniences that may be supposed to accompany frequent 
changes are less to be feared than the danger that arises 
from long continuance. 

I shall conclude this discourse with offering some observa- 
tions on the means of preserving liberty ; for it is not only 
necessary that we establish it, but that we preserve it. 

It is, in the first place, necessary that we distinguish be- 
tween the means made use of to overthrow despotism, in 
order to prepare the way for the establishment of liberty, 
and the means to be used after the despotism is overthrown. 

The means made use of in the first case are justified by 
necessity. Those means are, in general, insurrections ; for 
whilst the established government of despotism continues in 
any country it is scarcely possible that any other means can 
be used. It is also certain that in the commencement of a 
revolution, the revolutionary party permit to themselves a 
discretionary exercise of power regulated more by circum- 



1795] FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT, 277 

stances than by principle, which, were the practice to con- 
tinue, liberty would never be established, or if established 
would soon be overthrown. It is never to be expected in a 
revolution that every man is to change his opinion at the 
same moment. There never yet was any truth or any prin- 
ciple so irresistibly obvious, that all men believed it at once. 
Time and reason must co-operate with each other to the 
final establishment of any principle ; and therefore those who 
may happen to be first convinced have not a right to perse- 
cute others, on whom conviction operates more slowly. 
The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, not to 
destroy. 

Had a constitution been established two years ago, (as 
ought to have been done,) the violences that have since deso- 
lated France and injured the character of the revolution, 
would, in my opinion, have been prevented. 1 The nation 
would then have had a bond of union, and every individual 
would have known the line of conduct he was to follow. 
But, instead of this, a revolutionary government, a thing 
without either principle or authority, was substituted in its 
place ; virtue and crime depended upon accident ; and that 
which was patriotism one day, became treason the next. All 
these things have followed from the want of a constitution ; 
for it is the nature and intention of a constitution to prevent 
governing by party, by establishing a common principle that 
shall limit and control the power and impulse of party, and 
that says to all parties, thus far shalt thou go and no further. 
But in the absence of a constitution, men look entirely to 
party ; and instead of principle governing party, party 
governs principle. 

An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It 
leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even 
the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty se- 
cure, must guard even his enemy from oppression ; for if he 
violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach 

to himself. THOMAS PAINE. 

Paris, July, 1795. 

1 The Constitution adopted August 10, 1793, was by the determination of 
*' The Mountain," suspended during the war against France. The revolution- 
ary government was thus made chronic. — Editor* 



XXV. 
THE CONSTITUTION OF 1795. 

SPEECH IN THE FRENCH NATIONAL CONVENTION, JULY J r 

1795. 

On the motion of Lanthenas, "That permission be 
granted to Thomas Paine, to deliver his sentiments on the 
declaration of rights and the constitution," Thomas Paine 
ascended the Tribune ; and no opposition being made to 
the motion, one of the Secretaries, who stood by Mr. Paine, 
read his speech, of which the following is a literal transla- 
tion : 

Citizens : 

The effects of a malignant fever, with which I was afflicted 
during a rigorous confinement in the Luxembourg, have thus 
long prevented me from attending at my post in the bosom 
of the Convention, and the magnitude of the subject under 
discussion, and no other consideration on earth, could induce 
me now to repair to my station. 

A recurrence to the vicissitudes I have experienced, and 
the critical situations in which I have been placed in conse- 
quence of the French Revolution, will throw upon what I 
now propose to submit to the Convention the most un- 
equivocal proofs of my integrity, and the rectitude of those 
principles which have uniformly influenced my conduct. 

In England I was proscribed for having vindicated the 
French Revolution, and I have suffered a rigorous imprison- 
ment in France for having pursued a similar mode of con- 
duct. During the reign of terrorism, I was a close prisoner 



1795] THE CONSTITUTION OF Ijg^. 279 

for eight long months, and remained so above three months 
after the era of the 10th Thermidor. 1 I ought, however, to 
state, that I was not persecuted by the people either of Eng- 
land or France. The proceedings in both countries were the 
effects of the despotism existing in their respective govern- 
ments. But, even if my persecution had originated in the 
people at large, my principles and conduct would still have 
remained the same. Principles which are influenced and 
subject to the controul of tyranny, have not their foundation 
in the heart. 

A few days ago, I transmitted to you by the ordinary 
mode of distribution, a short Treatise, entitled " Disserta- 
tion on the First Principles of Government." This little 
work I did intend to have dedicated to the people of Hol- 
land, who, about the time I began to write it, were deter- 
mined to accomplish a Revolution in their Government, 
rather than to the people of France, who had long before 
effected that glorious object. But there are, in the Consti- 
tution which is about to be ratified by the Convention cer- 
tain articles, and in the report which preceded it certain 
points, so repugnant to reason, and incompatible with the 
true principles of liberty, as to render this Treatise, drawn 
up for another purpose, applicable to the present occasion, 
and under this impression I presumed to submit it to your 
consideration. 

If there be faults in the Constitution, it were better to 
expunge them now, than to abide the event of their mis- 
chievous tendency ; for certain it is, that the plan of the 
Constitution which has been presented to you is not consist- 
ent with the grand object of the Revolution, nor congenial 
to the sentiments of the individuals who accomplished it. 

To deprive half the people in a nation of their rights as 
citizens, is an easy matter in theory or on paper : but it is a 
most dangerous experiment, and rarely practicable in the 
execution. 

1 By the French republican calendar this was nearly the time. Paine's im- 
prisonment lasted from December 28, 1793, to November 4, 1794. He was by 
a unanimous vote recalled to the Convention, Dec. 7, 1794, but his first appear- 
ance there was on July 7, 1795. — Editor. 



28o THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

I shall now proceed to the observations I have to offer on 
this important subject ; and I pledge myself that they shall 
be neither numerous nor diffusive. 

In my apprehension, a constitution embraces two distinct 
parts or objects, the Principle and the Practice ; and it is 
not only an essential but an indispensable provision that 
the practice should emanate from, and accord with, the 
principle. Now I maintain, that the reverse of this propo- 
sition is the case in the plan of the Constitution under dis- 
cussion. The first article, for instance, of the political state 
of citizens, (v. Title ii. of the Constitution,) says : 

" Every man born and resident in France, who, being 
twenty-one years of age, has inscribed his name on the Civic 
Register of his Canton, and who has lived afterwards one 
year on the territory of the Republic, and who pays any 
direct contribution whatever, real or personal, is a French 
citizen." 1 

I might here ask, if those only who come under the above 
description are to be considered as citizens, what designation 
do you mean to give the rest of the people ? I allude to 
that portion of the people on whom the principal part of 
the labour falls, and on whom the weight of indirect taxa- 
tion will in the event chiefly press. In the structure of the 
social fabric, this class of people are infinitely superior to 
that privileged order whose only qualification is their wealth 
or territorial possessions. For what is trade without mer- 
chants ? What is land without cultivation ? And what is 
the produce of the land without manufactures? But to 
return to the subject. 

In the first place, this article is incompatible with the 
three first articles of the Declaration of Rights, which pre- 
cede the Constitutional Act. 

The first article of the Declaration of Rights says : 

" The end of society is the public good ; and the institu- 
tion of government is to secure to every individual the 
enjoyment of his rights." 

1 The article as ultimately adopted substituted "person" for "man," and 
for "has inscribed his name " (a slight educational test) inserted " whose name 
is inscribed." — Editor. 



1795] THE CONSTITUTION OF Ifpf. 28 1 

But the article of the Constitution to which I have just 
adverted proposes as the object of society, not the public 
good, or in other words, the good of all, but a partial good ; 
or the good only of a few ; and the Constitution provides 
solely for the rights of this few, to the exclusion of the 
many. 

The second article of the Declaration of Rights says : 

" The Rights of Man in society are Liberty, Equality, 
Security of his person and property." 

But the article alluded to in the Constitution has a direct 
tendency to establish the reverse of this position, inasmuch 
as the persons excluded by this inequality can neither be 
said to possess liberty, nor security against oppression. 
They are consigned totally to the caprice and tyranny of 
the rest. 

The third article of the Declaration of Rights says : 

" Liberty consists in such acts of volition as are not inju- 
rious to others." 

But the article of the Constitution, on which I have ob- 
served, breaks down this barrier. It enables the liberty of 
one part of society to destroy the freedom of the other. 

Having thus pointed out the inconsistency of this article 
to the Declaration of Rights, I shall proceed to comment on 
that of the same article which makes a direct contribution a 
necessary qualification to the right of citizenship. 

A modern refinement on the object of public revenue has 
divided the taxes, or contributions, into two classes, the 
direct and the indirect, without being able to define precisely 
the distinction or difference between them, because the 
effect of both is the same. 

Those are designated indirect taxes which fall upon the 
consumers of certain articles, on which the tax is imposed, 
because, the tax being included in the price, the consumer 
pays it without taking notice of it. 

The same observation is applicable to the territorial tax. 
The land proprietors, in order to reimburse themselves, will 
rack-rent their tenants : the farmer, of course, will transfer 
the obligation to the miller, by enhancing the price of grain ; 



282 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

the miller to the baker, by increasing the price of flour ; and 
the baker to the consumer, by raising the price of bread. 
The territorial tax, therefore, though called direct, is, in its 
consequences, indirect. 

To this tax the land proprietor contributes only in pro- 
portion to the quantity of bread and other provisions that 
are consumed in his own family. The deficit is furnished 
by the great mass of the community, which comprehends 
every individual of the nation. 

From the logical distinction between the direct and in- 
direct taxation, some emolument may result, I allow, to 
auditors of public accounts, &c, but to the people at large I 
deny that such a distinction (which by the by is without a 
difference) can be productive of any practical benefit. It 
ought not, therefore, to be admitted as a principle in the 
constitution. 

Besides this objection, the provision in question does not 
affect to define, secure, or establish the right of citizenship. 
It consigns to the caprice or discretion of the legislature the 
power of pronouncing who shall, or shall not, exercise the 
functions of a citizen ; and this may be done effectually, 
either by the imposition of a direct or indirect tax, according 
to the selfish views of the legislators, or by the mode of col- 
lecting the taxes so imposed. 

Neither a tenant who occupies an extensive farm, nor a 
merchant or manufacturer who may have embarked a large 
capital in their respective pursuits, can ever, according to 
this system, attain the pre-emption of a citizen. On the 
other hand, any upstart, who has, by succession or manage- 
ment, got possession of a few acres of land or a miserable 
tenement, may exultingly exercise the functions of a citizen, 
although perhaps neither possesses a hundredth part of the 
worth or property of a simple mechanic, nor contributes in 
any proportion to the exigencies of the State. 

The contempt in which the old government held mercan- 
tile pursuits, and the obloquy that attached on merchants 
and manufacturers, contributed not a little to its embarrass- 
ments, and its eventual subversion ; and, strange to tell, 



1795] THE CONSTITUTION OF I^pj. 283 

though the mischiefs arising from this mode of conduct 
are so obvious, yet an article is proposed for your adoption 
which has a manifest tendency to restore a defect inherent 
in the monarchy. 

I shall now proceed to the second article of the same 
Title, with which I shall conclude my remarks. 

The second article says, " Every French soldier, who shall 
have served one or more campaigns in the cause of liberty, 
is deemed a citizen of the republic, without any respect or 
reference to other qualifications." 1 

It would seem, that in this Article the Committee were 
desirous of extricating themselves from a dilemma into 
which they had been plunged by the preceding article. 
When men depart from an established principle they are 
compelled to resort to trick and subterfuge, always shifting 
their means to preserve the unity of their objects ; and as it 
rarely happens that the first expedient makes amends for 
the prostitution of principle, they must call in aid a second, 
of a more flagrant nature, to supply the deficiency of the 
former. In this manner legislators go on accumulating error 
upon error, and artifice upon artifice, until the mass becomes 
so bulky and incongruous, and their embarrassment so des- 
perate, that they are compelled, as their last expedient, to 
resort to the very principle they had violated. The Com- 
mittee were precisely in this predicament when they framed 
this article ; and to me, I confess, their conduct appears 
specious rather than efficacious. 9 

It was not for himself alone, but for his family, that the 
French citizen, at the dawn of the revolution, (for then in- 
deed every man was considered a citizen) marched soldier- 
like to the frontiers, and repelled a foreign invasion. He 
had it not in his contemplation, that he should enjoy liberty 
for the residue of his earthly career, and by his own act 

1 This article eventually stood : ' ' All Frenchmen who shall have made one 
or more campaigns for the establishment of the Republic, are citizens, without 
condition as to taxes." — Editor. 

2 The head of the Committee (eleven) was the Abbe Sieves, whose political 
treachery was well known to Paine before it became known to the world by his 
services to Napoleon in overthrowing the Republic. — Editor. 



284 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1795 

preclude his offspring from that inestimable blessing. No ! 
He wished to leave it as an inheritance to his children, and 
that they might hand it down to their latest posterity. If a 
Frenchman, who united in his person the character of a 
Soldier and a Citizen, was now to return from the army to 
his peaceful habitation, he must address his small family in 
this manner : " Sorry I am, that I cannot leave to you a small 
portion of what I have acquired by exposing my person to the 
ferocity of our enemies and defeating their machinations. 
I have established the republic, and, painful the reflection, 
all the laurels which I have won in the field are blasted, 
and all the privileges to which my exertions have entitled 
me extend not beyond the period of my own existence ! " 
Thus the measure that has been adopted by way of subter- 
fuge falls short of what the framers of it speculated upon ; 
for in conciliating the affections of the Soldier, they have 
subjected the Father to the most pungent sensations, by 
obliging him to adopt a generation of Slaves. 

Citizens, a great deal has been urged respecting insurrec- 
tions. I am confident that no man has a greater abhorrence 
of them than myself, and I am sorry that any insinuations 
should have been thrown out upon me as a promoter of 
violence of any kind. The whole tenor of my life and con- 
versation gives the lie to those calumnies, and proves me to 
be a friend to order, truth and justice. 

I hope you will attribute this effusion of my sentiments to 
my anxiety for the honor and success of the revolution. I 
have no interest distinct from that which has a tendency to 
meliorate the situation of mankind. The revolution, as 
far as it respects myself, has been productive of more loss 
and persecution than it is possible for me to describe, or 
for you to indemnify. But with respect to the subject 
under consideration, I could not refrain from declaring my 
sentiments. 

In my opinion, if you subvert the basis of the revolution, 
if you dispense with principles, and substitute expedients, 
you will extinguish that enthusiasm and energy which have 
hitherto been the life and soul of the revolution ; and you 



1795] THE CONSTITUTION OF Ifpf. 285 

will substitute in its place nothing but a cold indifference 
and self-interest, which will again degenerate into intrigue, 
cunning, and effeminacy. 

But to discard all considerations of a personal and sub- 
ordinate nature, it is essential to the well-being of the 
republic that the practical or organic part of the constitu- 
tion should correspond with its principles ; and as this does 
not appear to be the case in the plan that has been presented 
to you, it is absolutely necessary that it should be submitted 
to the revision of a committee, who should be instructed to 
compare it with the Declaration of Rights, in order to ascer- 
tain the difference between the two, and to make such 
alterations as shall render them perfectly consistent and 
compatible with each other. 




XXVI. 

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ENGLISH 
SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 1 

" On the verge, nay even in the gulph of bankruptcy." 

Debates in Parliament. 

NOTHING, they say, is more certain than death, and 
nothing more uncertain than the time of dying ; yet we can 
always fix a period beyond which man cannot live, and 
within some moment of which he will die. We are enabled 
to do this, not by any spirit of prophecy, or foresight into 
the event, but by observation of what has happened in all 
cases of human or animal existence. If then any other sub- 
ject, such, for instance, as a system of finance, exhibits in its 
progress a series of symptoms indicating decay, its final dis- 
solution is certain, and the period of it can be calculated 
from the symptoms it exhibits. 

Those who have hitherto written on the English system of 
finance, (the funding system,) have been uniformly impressed 
with the idea that its downfall would happen some time or 
other. They took, however, no data for their opinion, but 

1 This pamphlet, as Paine predicts at its close (no doubt on good grounds), was 
translated into all languages of Europe, and probably hastened the gold suspen- 
sion of the Bank of England (1797), which it predicted. The British Govern- 
ment entrusted its reply to Ralph Broome and George Chalmers, who wrote 
pamphlets. There is in the French Archives an order for 1000 copies, April 
27, 1796, nineteen days after Paine's pamphlet appeared. " Mr. Cobbett has 
made this little pamphlet a text-book for most of his elaborate treatises on our 
finances. . . . On the authority of a late Register of Mr. Cobbett's I learn that 
the profits arising from the sale of this pamphlet were devoted [by Paine] to the 
relief of the prisoners confined in Newgate for debt." — " Life of Paine," by 
Richard Carlile, 1819. — Editor. 



1796] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 287 

expressed it predictively, or merely as opinion, from a con- 
viction that the perpetual duration of such a system was a 
natural impossibility. It is in this manner that Dr. Price 
has spoken of it ; and Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, has 
spoken in the same manner ; that is, merely as opinion with- 
out data. " The progress," says Smith, " of the enormous 
debts, which at present oppress, and will in the long run 
most probably ruin, all the great nations of Europe [he should 
have said governments} has been pretty uniform." But this 
general manner of speaking, though it might make some 
impression, carried with it no conviction. 

It is not my intention to predict any thing ; but I will 
show from data already known, from symptoms and facts 
which the English funding system has already exhibited 
publicly, that it will not continue to the end of Mr. Pitt's 
life, supposing him to live the usual age of a man. How 
much sooner it may fall, I leave to others to predict. 

Let financiers diversify systems of credit as they will, it is 
nevertheless true, that every system of credit is a system of 
paper money. Two experiments have already been had 
upon paper money ; the one in America, the other in France. 
In both those cases the wliole capital was emitted, and that 
whole capital, which in America was called continental 
money, and in France assignats, appeared in circulation ; the 
consequence of which was, that the quantity became so enor- 
mous, and so disproportioned to the quantity of population, 
and to the quantity of objects upon which it could be em- 
ployed, that the market, if I may so express it, was glutted 
with it, and the value of it fell. Between five and six years 
determined the fate of those experiments. The same fate 
would have happened to gold and silver, could gold and sil- 
ver have been issued in the same abundant manner that 
paper had been, and confined within the country as paper 
money always is, by having no circulation out of it ; or, to 
speak on a larger scale, the same thing would happen in the 
world, could the world be glutted with gold and silver, as 
America and France have been with paper. 

The English system differs from that of America and 



288 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

France in this one particular, that its capital is kept out of 
sight ; that is, it does not appear in circulation. Were the 
whole capital of the national debt, which at the time I write 
this is almost one hundred million pounds sterling, to be 
emitted in assignats or bills, and that whole quantity put into 
circulation, as was done in America and in France, those 
English assignats, or bills, would soon sink in value as those 
of America and France have done ; and that in a greater 
degree, because the quantity of them would be more dispro- 
portioned to the quantity of population in England, than 
was the case in either of the other two countries. A nomi- 
nal pound sterling in such bills would not be worth one 
penny. 

But though the English system, by thus keeping the 
capital out of sight, is preserved from hasty destruction, as 
in the case of America and France, it nevertheless approaches 
the same fate, and will arrive at it with the same certainty, 
though by a slower progress. The difference is altogether in 
the degree of speed by which the two systems approach their 
fate, which, to speak in round numbers, is as twenty is to 
one ; that is, the English system, that of funding the capital 
instead of issuing it, contained within itself a capacity of en- 
during twenty times longer than the systems adopted by 
America and France ; and at the end of that time it would 
arrive at the same common grave, the Potter's Field of 
paper money. 

The datum, I take for this proportion of twenty to one, is 
the difference between a capital and the interest at five per 
cent. Twenty times the interest is equal to the capital. The 
accumulation of paper money in England is in proportion to 
the accumulation of the interest upon every new loan ; and 
therefore the progress to the dissolution is twenty times 
slower than if the capital were to be emitted and put into 
circulation immediately. Every twenty years in the English 
system is equal to one year in the French and American 
systems. 

Having thus stated the duration of the two systems, that 
of funding upon interest, and that of emitting the whole 



1796] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 289 

capital without funding, to be as twenty to one, I come to 
examine the symptoms of decay, approaching to dissolution, 
that the English system has already exhibited, and to com- 
pare them with similar systems in the French and American 
systems. 

The English funding system began one hundred years ago ; 
in which time there have been six wars, including the war 
that ended in 1697. 

1. The war that ended, as I have just said, in 1697. 

2. The war that began in 1702. 

3. The war that began in 1739. 

4. The war that began in 1756. 

5. The American war, that began in 1775. 

6. The present war, that began in 1793. 

The national debt, at the conclusion of the war which 
ended in 1697, was twenty-one millions and an half. (See 
Smith's Wealth of Nations, chapter on Public Debts.) We 
now see it approaching fast to four hundred millions. If be- 
tween these two extremes of twenty-one millions and four 
hundred millions, embracing the several expenses of all the 
including wars, there exist some common ratio that will as- 
certain arithmetically the amount of the debts at the end of 
each war, as certainly as the fact is known to be, that ratio 
will in like manner determine what the amount of the debt 
will be in all future wars, and will ascertain the period within 
which the funding system will expire in a bankruptcy of the 
government ; for the ratio I allude to, is the ratio which the 
nature of the thing has established for itself. 

Hitherto no idea has been entertained that any such ratio 
existed, or could exist, that would determine a problem of 
this kind ; that is, that would ascertain, without having any 
knowledge of the fact, what the expense of any former war 
had been, or what the expense of any future war would be ; 
but it is nevertheless true that such a ratio does exist, as I 
shall show, and also the mode of applying it. 

The ratio I allude to is not in arithmetical progression 
like the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ; nor yet in geometrical 
progression, like the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256; 

VOL III — 19 



29O THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

but it is in the series of one half upon each preceding num- 
ber ; like the numbers 8, 12, 18, 27, 40, 60, 90, 135. 

Any person can perceive that the second number, 12, is 
produced by the preceding number, 8, and half 8 ; and that 
the third number, 18, is in like manner produced by the pre- 
ceding number, 12, and half 12 ; and so on for the rest. 
They can also see how rapidly the sums increase as the ratio 
proceeds. The difference between the two first numbers is 
but four ; but the difference between the two last is forty- 
five ; and from thence they may see with what immense 
rapidity the national debt has increased, and will continue 
to increase, till it exceeds the ordinary powers of calculation, 
and loses itself in ciphers. 

I come now to apply the ratio as a rule to determine in 
all cases. 

I began with the war that ended in 1697, which was the 
war in which the funding system began. The expense of 
that war was twenty-one millions and an half. In order to 
ascertain the expense of the next war, I add to twenty-one 
millions and an half, the half thereof (ten millions and three 
quarters) which makes thirty-two millions and a quarter for 
the expense of that war. This thirty-two millions and a 
quarter, added to the former debt of twenty-one millions 
and an half, carries the national debt to fifty-three millions 
and three quarters. Smith, in his chapter on Public Debts, 
says, that the national debt was at this time fifty-three 
millions. 

I proceed to ascertain the expense of the next war, that 
of 1739, by adding, as in the former case, one half to the 
expense of the preceding war. The expense of the preced- 
ing war was thirty-two millions and a quarter ; for the sake 
of even numbers, say, thirty-two millions ; the half of which 
(16) makes forty-eight millions for the expense of that war. 

I proceed to ascertain the expense of the war of 1756, by 
adding, according to the ratio, one half to the expense of 
the preceding war. The expense of the preceding was taken 
at 48 millions, the half of which (24) makes 72 millions for 
the expense of that war. Smith, (chapter on Public Debts,) 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 29I 

says, the expense of the war of 1756, was 72 millions and a 
quarter. 

I proceed to ascertain the expense of the American war, 
of 1775, by adding, as in the former cases, one half to the 
expense of the preceding war. The expense of the preced- 
ing war was 72 millions, the half of which (36) makes 108 
millions for the expense of that war. In the last edition of 
Smith, (chapter on Public Debts,) he says, the expense of 
the American war was more than an hundred millions. 

I come now to ascertain the expense of the present war, 
supposing it to continue as long as former wars have done, 
and the funding system not to break up before that period. 
The expense of the preceding war was 108 millions, the half 
of which (54) makes 162 millions for the expense of the 
present war. It gives symptoms of going beyond this sum, 
supposing the funding system not to break up ; for the loans 
of the last year and of the present year are twenty-two mil- 
lions each, which exceeds the ratio compared with the loans 
of the preceding war. It will not be from the inability of 
procuring loans that the system will break up. On the con- 
trary, it is the facility with which loans can be procured that 
hastens that event. The loans are altogether paper transac- 
tions ; and it is the excess of them that brings on, with 
accelerating speed, that progressive depreciation of funded 
paper money that will dissolve the funding system. 

I proceed to ascertain the expense of future wars, and I 
do this merely to show the impossibility of the continuance 
of the funding system, and the certainty of its dissolution. 

The expense of the next war after the present war, 
according to the ratio that has ascertained the preceding 
cases, will be 

243 millions. 
Expense of the second war 364 

third war 546 

fourth war 819 

— fifth war 1228 



^3200 millions ; 



292 



THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. 



[>79fr 



which, at only four per cent, will require taxes to the nominal 
amount of one hundred and twenty-eight millions to pay 
the annual interest, besides the interest of the present debt, 
and the expenses of government, which are not included in 
this account. Is there a man so mad, so stupid, as to sup- 
pose this system can continue ? 

When I first conceived the idea of seeking for some com- 
mon ratio that should apply as a rule of measurement to all 
the cases of the funding system, so far as to ascertain the 
several stages of its approach to dissolution, I had no expec- 
tation that any ratio could be found that would apply with 
so much exactness as this does. I was led to the idea merely 
by observing that the funding system was a thing in con- 
tinual progression, and that whatever was in a state of pro- 
gression might be supposed to admit of, at least, some 
general ratio of measurement, that would apply without 
any very great variation. But who could have supposed 
that falling systems, or falling opinions, admitted of a ratio 
apparently as true as the descent of falling bodies ? I have 
not made the ratio any more than Newton made the ratio of 
gravitation. I have only discovered it, and explained the 
mode of applying it. 

To shew at one view the rapid progression of the funding 
system to destruction, and to expose the folly of those who 
blindly believe in its continuance, and who artfully endeavour 
to impose that belief upon others, I exhibit in the annexed 
table, the expense of each of the six wars since the funding 
system began, as ascertained by ratio, and the expense of 
the six wars yet to come, ascertained by the same ratio. 





FIRST SIX WARS. 






SECOND SIX WARS. 




I . 


21 millions 


I 


, . 


243 millions 


2 . 


33 


« 


2 . 


1 


3 6 4 


u 


3 • 


. . 48 


<< 


3 


. 


• 546 


u 


4 • 


72 


«* 


4 


. 


819 


a 


5 • 


108 


« 


5 


. 


. 1228 


<< 


6 . 


162 


it 


6 




. 1842 


it 




Total ^444 


u 




Total 


£$°4 2 


N 



* The actual expense of the war of 1 739 did not come up to the sum ascer- 
tained by the ratio. But as that which is the natural disposition of a thing, as 



1796] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 293 

Those who are acquainted with the power with which even 
a small ratio, acting in progression, multiplies in a long 
series, will see nothing to wonder at in this table. Those 
who are not acquainted with that subject, and not knowing 
what else to say, may be inclined to deny it. But it is not 
their opinion one way, nor mine the other, that can influ- 
ence the event. The table exhibits the natural march of the 
funding system to its irredeemable dissolution. Supposing 
the present government of England to continue, and to go 
on as it has gone on since the funding system began, I 
would not give twenty shillings for one hundred pounds in 
the funds to be paid twenty years hence. I do not speak 
this predictively ; I produce the data upon which that be- 
lief is founded ; and which data it is every body's interest to 
know, who have any thing to do with the funds, or who are 
going to bequeath property to their descendants to be paid 
at a future day. 

Perhaps it may be asked, that as governments or minis- 
ters proceeded by no ratio in making loans or incurring 
debts, and nobody intended any ratio, or thought of any, 
how does it happen that there is one ? I answer, that the 
ratio is founded in necessity ; and I now go to explain what 
that necessity is. 

It will always happen, that the price of labour, or of the 
produce of labour, be that produce what it may, will be in 
proportion to the quantity of money in a country, admitting 
things to take their natural course. Before the invention of 
the funding system, there was no other money than gold and 

it is the natural disposition of a stream of water to descend, will, if impeded in 
its course, overcome by a new effort what it had lost by that impediment, so it 
was with respect to this war and the next (1756) taken collectively; for the 
expense of the war of 1756 restored the equilibrium of the ratio, as fully as if 
it had not been impeded. A circumstance that serves to prove the truth of 
the ratio more fully than if the interruption had not taken place. The war 
of 1739 was languid ; the efforts were below the value of money at that time ; 
for the ratio is the measure of the depreciation of money in consequence of the 
funding system ; or what comes to the same end, it is the measure of the in- 
crease of paper. Every additional quantity of it, whether in bank notes or 
otherwise, diminishes the real, though not the nominal value of the former 
quantity. — A utkor. 



294 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

silver ; and as nature gives out those metals with a sparing 
hand, and in regular annual quantities from the mines, the 
several prices of things were proportioned to the quantity of 
money at that time, and so nearly stationary as to vary but 
little in any fifty or sixty years of that period. 

When the funding system began, a substitute for gold and 
silver began also. That substitute was paper ; and the 
quantity increased as the quantity of interest increased upon 
accumulated loans. This appearance of a new and additional 
species of money in the nation soon began to break the rela- 
tive value which money and the things it will purchase bore 
to each other before. Every thing rose in price ; but the 
rise at first was little and slow, like the difference in units 
between two first numbers, 8 and 12, compared with the two 
last numbers 90 and 135, in the table. It was however suf- 
ficient to make itself considerably felt in a large transaction. 
When therefore government, by engaging in a new war, re- 
quired a new loan, it was obliged to make a higher loan than 
the former loan, to balance the increased price to which 
things had risen ; and as that new loan increased the quan- 
tity of paper in proportion to the new quantity of interest, 
it carried the price of things still higher than before. The 
next loan was again higher, to balance that further increased 
price ; and all this in the same manner, though not in the 
same degree, that every new emission of continental money 
in America, or of assignats in France, was greater than the 
preceding emission, to make head against the advance of 
prices, till the combat could be maintained no longer. 
Herein is founded the necessity of which I have just spoken. 
That necessity proceeds with accelerating velocity, and the 
ratio I have laid down is the measure of that acceleration; 
or, to speak the technical language of the subject, it is the 
measure of the increasing depreciation of funded paper 
money, which it is impossible to prevent while the quantity 
of that money and of bank notes continues to multiply. 
What else but this can account for the difference between 
one war costing 21 millions, and another war costing 160 
millions ? 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 295 

The difference cannot be accounted for on the score of 
extraordinary efforts or extraordinary achievements. The 
war that cost twenty-one millions was the war of the con- 
federates, historically called the grand alliance, consisting of 
England, Austria, and Holland in the time of William III. 
against Louis XIV. and in which the confederates were vic- 
torious. The present is a war of a much greater confederacy 
— a confederacy of England, Austria, Prussia, the German 
Empire, Spain, Holland, Naples, and Sardinia, eight powers, 
against the French Republic singly, and the Republic 
has beaten the whole confederacy. — But to return to my 
subject. 

It is said in England, that the value of paper keeps equal 
with the value of gold and silver. But the case is not rightly 
stated ; for the fact is, that the paper has pulled down the 
value of gold and silver to a level with itself. Gold and 
silver will not purchase so much of any purchasable article 
at this day as if no paper had appeared, nor so much as it 
will in any country in Europe where there is no paper. How 
long this hanging together of money and paper will continue, 
makes a new case ; because it daily exposes the system to 
sudden death, independent of the natural death it would 
otherwise suffer. 

I consider the funding system as being now advanced 
into the last twenty years of its existence. The single cir- 
cumstance, were there no other, that a war should now cost 
nominally one hundred and sixty millions, which when the 
system began cost but twenty-one millions, or that the loan 
for one year only (including the loan to the Emperor) should 
now be nominally greater than the whole expense of that 
war, shows the state of depreciation to which the funding 
system has arrived. Its depreciation is in the proportion of 
eight for one, compared with the value of its money when 
the system began ; which is the state the French assignats 
stood a year ago (March 1795) compared with gold and 
silver. It is therefore that I say, that the English funding 
system has entered on the last twenty years of its existence, 
comparing each twenty years of the English system with 



296 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

every single year of the American and French systems, as 
before stated. 

Again, supposing the present war to close as former wars 
have done, and without producing either revolution or re- 
form in England, another war at least must be looked for in 
the space of the twenty years I allude to ; for it has never 
yet happened that twenty years have passed off without a 
war, and that more especially since the English government 
has dabbled in German politics, and shown a disposition to 
insult the world, and the world of commerce, with her navy. 
The next war will carry the national debt to very nearly 
seven hundred millions, the interest of which, at four per 
cent, will be twenty-eight millions besides the taxes for the 
(then) expenses of government, which will increase in the 
same proportion, and which will carry the taxes to at least 
forty millions ; and if another war only begins, it will quickly 
carry them to above fifty ; for it is in the last twenty years 
of the funding system, as in the last year of the American 
and French systems without funding, that all the great shocks 
begin to operate. 

I have just mentioned that, paper in England has pulled 
down the value of gold and silver to a level with itself ; and 
that this pulling down of gold and silver money has created 
the appearance of paper money keeping up. The same 
thing, and the same mistake, took place in America and in 
France, and continued for a considerable time after the com- 
mencement of their system of paper ; and the actual depre- 
ciation of money was hidden under that mistake. 

It was said in America, at that time, that everything was 
becoming dear; but gold and silver could then buy those 
dear articles no cheaper than paper could ; and therefore it 
was not called depreciation. The idea of dearness estab- 
lished itself for the idea of depreciation. The same was the 
case in France. Though every thing rose in price soon after 
assignats appeared, yet those dear articles could be pur- 
chased no cheaper with gold and silver, than with paper, and 
it was only said that things were dear. The same is still the 
language in England. They call it deariness. But they will 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 297 

soon find that it is an actual depreciation, and that this de- 
preciation is the effect of the funding system ; which, by 
crowding such a continually increasing mass of paper into cir- 
culation, carries down the value of gold and silver with it. 
But gold and silver, will, in the long run, revolt against de- 
preciation, and separate from the value of paper ; for the pro- 
gress of all such systems appears to be, that the paper will 
take the command in the beginning, and gold and silver in 
the end. 

But this succession in the command of gold and silver over 
paper, makes a crisis far more eventful to the funding sys- 
tem than to any other system upon which paper can be 
issued ; for, strictly speaking, it is not a crisis of danger but 
a symptom of death. It is a death-stroke to the funding sys- 
tem. It is a revolution in the whole of its affairs. 

If paper be issued without being funded upon interest, 
emissions of it can be continued after the value of it sepa- 
rates from gold and silver, as we have seen in the two cases 
of America and France. But the funding system rests alto- 
gether upon the value of paper being equal to gold and 
silver ; which will be as long as the paper can continue car- 
rying down the value of gold and silver to the same level 
to which itself descends, and no longer. But even in this 
state, that of descending equally together, the minister, who- 
ever he may be, will find himself beset with accumulating 
difficulties ; because the loans and taxes voted for the ser- 
vice of each ensuing year will wither in his hands before the 
year expires, or before they can be applied. This will force him 
to have recourse to emissions of what are called exchequer 
and navy bills, which, by still increasing the mass of paper in 
circulation, will drive on the depreciation still more rapidly. 

It ought to be known that taxes in England are not paid 
in gold and silver, but in paper (bank notes). Every person 
who pays any considerable quantity of taxes, such as malt- 
sters, brewers, distillers, (I appeal for the truth of it, to 
any of the collectors of excise in England, or to Mr. White- 
bread,) 1 knows this to be the case. There is not gold and 

1 An eminent Member of Parliament. — Editor. 



298 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

silver enough in the nation to pay the taxes in coin, as I 
shall show ; and consequently there is not money enough 
in the bank to pay the notes. The interest of the national 
funded debt is paid at the bank in the same kind of pa- 
per in which the taxes are collected. When people find, 
as they will find, a reservedness among each other in giving 
gold and silver for bank notes, or the least preference for 
the former over the latter, they will go for payment to the 
bank, where they have a right to go. They will do this as 
a measure of prudence, each one for himself, and the truth 
or delusion of the funding system will then be proved. 

I have said in the foregoing paragraph that there is not 
gold and silver enough in the nation to pay the taxes in 
coin, and consequently that there cannot be enough in the 
bank to pay the notes. As I do not choose to rest anything 
upon assertion, I appeal for the truth of this to the publi- 
cations of Mr. Eden (now called Lord Auckland) and George 
Chalmers, Secretary to the Board of Trade and Planta- 
tion, of which Jenkinson (now Lord Hawkesbury) is presi- 
dent. 1 (These sort of folks change their names so often 
that it is as difficult to know them as it is to know a thief.) 
Chalmers gives the quantity of gold and silver coin from the 
returns of coinage at the Mint ; and after deducting for the 
light gold jecoined, says that the amount of gold and silver 
coined is about twenty millions. He had better not have 
proved this, especially if he had reflected that public credit 
is suspicion asleep. The quantity is much too little. 

Of this twenty millions (which is not a fourth part of the 
quantity of gold and silver there is in France, as is shown in 
Mr. Neckar's Treatise on the Administration of the Fi- 
nances) three millions at least must be supposed to be in 
Ireland, some in Scotland, and in the West Indies, New- 
foundland, &c. The quantity therefore in England cannot 
be more than sixteen millions, which is four millions less 
than the amount of the taxes. But admitting that there are 
sixteen millions, not more than a fourth part thereof (four 

1 Concerning Chalmers and Hawkesbury see vol. ii., p. 522. Also, pref- 
ace to my " Life of Paine," xvi., and other passages. — Editor. 



I79 6 l THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 299 

millions) can be in London, when it is considered that every 
city, town, village, and farm-house in the nation must have 
a part of it, and that all the great manufactories, which 
most require cash, are out of London. Of this four mil- 
lions in London, every banker, merchant, tradesman, in short 
every individual, must have some. He must be a poor shop- 
keeper indeed, who has not a few guineas in his till. The 
quantity of cash therefore in the bank can never, on the evi- 
dence of circumstances, be so much as two millions ; most 
probably not more than one million ; and on this slender 
twig, always liable to be broken, hangs the whole funding 
system of four hundred millions, besides many millions in 
bank notes. The sum in the bank is not sufficient to pay 
one-fourth of only one year's interest of the national debt, 
were the creditors to demand payment in cash, or demand 
cash for the bank notes in which the interest is paid, a 
circumstance always liable to happen. 

One of the amusements that has kept up the farce of the 
funding system is, that the interest is regularly paid. But 
as the interest is always paid in bank notes, and as bank 
notes can always be coined for the purpose, this mode of 
payment proves nothing. The point of proof is, can the 
bank give cash for the bank notes with which the interest 
is paid ? If it cannot, and it is evident it cannot, some mil- 
lions of bank notes must go without payment, and those 
holders of bank notes who apply last will be worst off. 
When the present quantity of cash in the bank is paid away, 
it is next to impossible to see how any new quantity is to 
arrive. None will arrive from taxes, for the taxes will all be 
paid in bank notes ; and should the government refuse bank 
notes in payment of taxes, the credit of bank notes will be 
gone at once. No cash will arise from the business of dis- 
counting merchants' bills ; for every merchant will pay off 
those bills in bank notes, and not in cash. There is there- 
fore no means left for the bank to obtain a new supply of 
cash, after the present quantity is paid away. But besides 
the impossibility of paying the interest of the funded debt 
in cash, there are many thousand persons, in London and in 



300 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

the country, who are holders of bank notes that came into 
their hands in the fair way of trade, and who are not stock- 
holders in the funds ; and as such persons have had no hand 
in increasing the demand upon the bank, as those have had 
who for their own private interest, like Boyd and others, 
are contracting or pretending to contract for new loans, 
they will conceive they have a just right that their bank 
notes should be paid first. Boyd has been very sly in France, 
in changing his paper into cash. He will be just as sly in do- 
ing the same thing in London, for he has learned to calcu- 
late ; and then it is probable he will set off for America. 

A stoppage of payment at the bank is not a new thing. 
Smith in his Wealth of Nations, book ii. chap. 2. says, that 
in the year 1696, exchequer bills fell forty, fifty, and sixty 
per cent ; bank notes twenty per cent ; and the bank stopped 
payment. That which happened in 1696 may happen again 
in 1796. The period in which it happened was the last year 
of the war of King William. It necessarily put a stop to 
the further emissions of exchequer and navy bills, and to 
the raising of new loans ; and the peace which took place 
the next year was probably hurried on by this circum- 
stance, and saved the bank from bankruptcy. Smith in 
speaking from the circumstances of the bank, upon another 
occasion, says (book ii. chap. 2.) " This great company 
had been reduced to the necessity of paying in sixpences." 
When a bank adopts the expedient of paying in sixpences, 
it is a confession of insolvency. 

It is worthy of observation, that every case of failure in 
finances, since the system of paper began, has produced a 
revolution in governments, either total or partial. A failure 
in the finances of France produced the French revolution. A 
failure in the finance of the assignats broke up the revolution- 
ary government, and produced the present French Constitu- 
tion. A failure in the finances of the Old Congress of America, 
and the embarrassments it brought upon commerce, broke 
up the system of the old confederation, and produced the fed- 
eral Constitution. If, then, we admit of reasoning by com- 
parison of causes and events, the failure of the English 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 30r 

finances will produce some change in the government of 
that country. 

As to Mr. Pitt's project of paying off the national debt by 
applying a million a-year for that purpose, while he con- 
tinues adding more than twenty millions a-year to it, it is 
like setting a man with a wooden leg to run after a hare. 
The longer he runs the farther he is off. 

When I said that the funding system had entered the last 
twenty years of its existence, I certainly did not mean that 
it would continue twenty years, and then expire as a lease 
would do. I meant to describe that age of decrepitude in 
which death is every day to be expected, and life cannot 
continue long. But the death of credit, or that state that is 
called bankruptcy, is not always marked by those progres- 
sive stages of visible decline that marked the decline of 
natural life. In the progression of natural life age cannot 
counterfeit youth, nor conceal the departure of juvenile 
abilities. But it is otherwise with respect to the death of 
credit ; for though all the approaches to bankruptcy may 
actually exist in circumstances, they admit of being con- 
cealed by appearances. Nothing is more common than to see 
the bankrupt of to-day a man in credit but the day before ; 
yet no sooner is the real state of his affairs known, than every 
body can see he had been insolvent long before. In London,, 
the greatest theatre of bankruptcy in Europe, this part of the 
subject will be well and feelingly understood. 

Mr. Pitt continually talks of credit, and the national re- 
sources. These are two of the feigned appearances by which 
the approaches to bankruptcy are concealed. That which 
he calls credit may exist, as I have just shown, in a state of 
insolvency, and is always what I have before described it to 
be, suspicion asleep. 

As to national resources, Mr. Pitt, like all English finan- 
ciers that preceded him since the funding system began, has 
uniformly mistaken the nature of a resource ; that is, they 
have mistaken it consistently with the delusion of the fund- 
ing system ; but time is explaining the delusion. That 
which he calls, and which they call, a resource, is not a re- 



302 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

source, but is the anticipation of a resource. They have an- 
ticipated what would have been a resource in another genera- 
tion, had not the use of it been so anticipated. The funding 
system is a system of anticipation. Those who established 
it an hundred years ago anticipated the resources of those 
who were to live an hundred years after ; for the people of 
the present day have to pay the interest of the debts con- 
tracted at that time, and all debts contracted since. But it 
is the last feather that breaks the horse's back. Had the 
system begun an hundred years before, the amount of taxes 
at this time to pay the annual interest at four per cent, 
(could we suppose such a system of insanity could have con- 
tinued) would be two hundred and twenty millions annually : 
for the capital of the debt would be 5486 millions, accord- 
ing to the ratio that ascertains the expense of the wars for 
the hundred years that are past. But long before it could 
have reached this period, the value of bank notes, from the 
immense quantity of them, (for it is in paper only that such 
a nominal revenue could be collected,) would have been as 
low or lower than continental paper has been in America, or 
assignats in France; and as to the idea of exchanging them 
for gold and silver, it is too absurd to be contradicted. 

Do we not see that nature, in all her operations, disowns 
the visionary basis upon which the funding system is built? 
She acts always by renewed successions, and never by ac- 
cumulating additions perpetually progressing. Animals and 
vegetables, men and trees, have existed since the world 
began : but that existence has been carried on by succession 
of generations, and not by continuing the same men and 
the same trees in existence that existed first ; and to make 
room for the new she removes the old. Every natural idiot 
can see this ; it is the stock-jobbing idiot only that mistakes. 
He has conceived that art can do what nature cannot. He 
is teaching her a new system — that there is no occasion for 
man to die — that the scheme of creation can be carried on 
upon the plan of the funding system — that it can proceed 
by continual additions of new beings, like new loans, and all 
live together in eternal youth. Go, count the graves, thou 
idiot, and learn the folly of thy arithmetic ! 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 303 

But besides these things, there is something visibly farcical 
in the whole operation of loaning. It is scarcely more than 
four years ago that such a rot of bankruptcy spread itself 
over London, that the whole commercial fabric tottered ; 
trade and credit were at a stand ; and such was the state of 
things that, to prevent or suspend a general bankruptcy, the 
government lent the merchants six millions in government 
paper, and now the merchants lend the government twenty- 
two millions in their paper ; and two parties, Boyd and Mor- 
gan, men but little known, contend who shall be the lenders. 
What a farce is this ! It reduces the operation of loaning 
to accommodation paper, in which the competitors contend, 
not who shall lend, but who shall sign, because there is 
something to be got for signing. 

Every English stock-jobber and minister boasts of the 
credit of England. Its credit, say they, is greater than that 
of any country in Europe. There is a good reason for this : 
for there is not another country in Europe that could be 
made the dupe of such a delusion. The English funding 
system will remain a monument of wonder, not so much on 
account of the extent to which it has been carried, as of the 
folly of believing in it. 

Those who had formerly predicted that the funding sys- 
tem would break up when the debt should amount to one 
hundred or one hundred and fifty millions, erred only in not 
distinguishing between insolvency and actual bankruptcy ; 
for the insolvency commenced as soon as the government 
became unable to pay the interest in cash, or to give cash 
for the bank notes in which the interest was paid, whether 
that inability was known or not, or whether it was suspected 
or not. Insolvency always takes place before bankruptcy ; 
for bankruptcy is nothing more than the publication of that 
insolvency. In the affairs of an individual, it often happens 
that insolvency exists several years before bankruptcy, and 
that the insolvency is concealed and carried on till the in- 
dividual is not able to pay one shilling in the pound. A 
government can ward off bankruptcy longer than an in- 
dividual : but insolvency will inevitably produce bankruptcy, 
whether in an individual or in a government. If then the 



304 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

quantity of bank notes payable on demand, which the bank 
has issued, are greater than the bank can pay off, the bank 
is insolvent : and when that insolvency is declared, it is 
bankruptcy.* 

I come now to show the several ways by which bank 
notes get into circulation : I shall afterwards offer an esti- 
mate on the total quantity or amount of bank notes existing 
at this moment. 

The bank acts in three capacities. As a bank of discount ; 
as a bank of deposit ; and as a banker for the government. 

First, as a bank of discount. The bank discounts mer- 
chants' bills of exchange for two months. When a merchant 

* Among the delusions that have been imposed upon the nation by ministers 
to give a false colouring to its affairs, and by none more than by Mr. Pitt, is a 
motley, amphibious-charactered thing called the balance of trade. This balance 
of trade, as it is called, is taken from the custom-house books, in which entries 
are made of all cargoes exported, and also of all cargoes imported, in each year ; 
and when the value of the exports, according to the price set upon them by the 
exporter or by the custom-house, is greater than the value of the imports, 
estimated in the same manner, they say the balance of trade is much in their 
favour. 

The custom-house books prove regularly enough that so many cargoes have 
been exported, and so many imported ; but this is all that they prove, or were 
intended to prove. They have nothing to do with the balance of profit or loss ; 
and it is ignorance to appeal to them upon that account : for the case is, that 
the greater the loss is in any one year, the higher vail this thing called the 
balance of trade appear to be according to the custom-house books. For 
example, nearly the whole of the Mediterranean convoy has been taken by 
the French this year ; consequently those cargoes will not appear as imports 
on the custom-house books, and therefore the balance of trade, by which they 
mean the profits of it, will appear to be so much the greater as the loss 
amounts to ; and, on the other hand, had the loss not happened, the profits 
would have appeared to have been so much the less. All the losses happening 
at sea to returning cargoes, by accidents, by the elements, or by capture, make 
the balance appear the higher on the side of the exports ; and were they all lost 
at sea, it would appear to be all profit on the custom-house books. Also every 
cargo of exports that is lost that occasions another to be sent, adds in like man- 
ner to the side of the exports, and appears as profit. This year the balance of 
trade will appear high, because the losses have been great by capture and by 
storms. The ignorance of the British Parliament in listening to this hackneyed 
imposition of ministers about the balance of trade is astonishing. It shows how 
little they know of national affairs — and Mr. Grey may as well talk Greek to 
them, as to make motions about the state of the nation. They understand only 
fox-hunting and the game laws. — Author. 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 305 

has a bill that will become due at the end of two months, 
and wants payment before that time, the bank advances 
that payment to him, deducting therefrom at the rate of 
five per cent, per annum. The bill of exchange remains at 
the bank as a pledge or pawn, and at the end of two months 
it must be redeemed. This transaction is done altogether 
in paper ; for the profits of the bank, as a bank of discount, 
arise entirely from its making use of paper as money. The 
bank gives bank notes to the merchant in discounting the 
bill of exchange, and the redeemer of the bill pays bank 
notes to the bank in redeeming it. It very seldom happens 
that any real money passes between them. 

If the profits of a bank be, for example, two hundred 
thousand pounds a year (a great sum to be made merely by 
exchanging one sort of paper for another, and which shows 
also that the merchants of that place are pressed for money 
for payments, instead of having money to spare to lend to 
government,) it proves that the bank discounts to the 
amount of four millions annually, or 666,6661. every two 
months ; and as there never remain in the bank more than 
two months' pledges, of the value of 666,666/., at any one 
time, the amount of bank notes in circulation at any one 
time should not be more than to that amount. This is 
sufficient to show that the present immense quantity of 
bank notes, which are distributed through every city, town, 
village, and farm-house in England, cannot be accounted for 
on the score of discounting. 

Secondly, as a bank of deposit. To deposit money at the 
bank means to lodge it there for the sake of convenience, 
and to be drawn out at any moment the depositor pleases, 
or to be paid away to his order. When the business of dis- 
counting is great, that of depositing is necessarily small. No 
man deposits and applies for discounts at the same time ; 
for it would be like paying interest for lending money, in- 
stead of for borrowing it. The deposits that are now made 
at the bank are almost entirely in bank notes, and conse- 
quently they add nothing to the ability of the bank to pay 
off the bank notes that may be presented for payment ; and 

VOL III— 20 



306 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

besides this, the deposits are no more the property of the 
bank than the cash or bank notes in a merchant's counting- 
house are the property of his book-keeper. No great 
increase therefore of bank notes, beyond what the discount- 
ing business admits, can be accounted for on the score of 
deposits. 

Thirdly, the bank acts as banker for the government. 
This is the connection that threatens to ruin every public 
bank. It is through this connection that the credit of a 
bank is forced far beyond what it ought to be, and still fur- 
ther beyond its ability to pay. It is through this connection, 
that such an immense redundant quantity of bank notes 
have gotten into circulation ; and which, instead of being 
issued because there was property in the bank, have been 
issued because there was none. 

When the treasury is empty, which happens in almost 
every year of every war, its coffers at the bank are empty 
also. It is in this condition of emptiness that the minister 
has recourse to emissions of what are called exchequer and 
navy bills, which continually generates a new increase of 
bank notes, and which are sported upon the public, without 
there being property in the bank to pay them. These ex- 
chequer and navy bills (being, as I have said, emitted because 
the treasury and its coffers at the bank are empty, and can- 
not pay the demands that come in) are no other than an 
acknowledgment that the bearer is entitled to receive so 
much money. They may be compared to the settlement of 
an account, in which the debtor acknowledges the balance 
he owes, and for which he gives a note of hand ; or to a note 
of hand given to raise money upon it. 

Sometimes the bank discounts those bills as it would dis- 
count merchants' bills of exchange ; sometimes it purchases 
them of the holders at the current price ; and sometimes it 
agrees with the ministers to pay an interest upon them to 
the holders, and keep them in circulation. In every one of 
these cases an additional quantity of bank notes gets into 
circulation, and are sported, as I have said, upon the public, 
without there being property in the bank, as banker for the 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 307 

government, to pay them ; and besides this, the bank has 
now no money of its own ; for the money that was origi- 
nally subscribed to begin the credit of the bank with, at its 
first establishment, has been lent to government and wasted 
long ago. 

" The bank " (says Smith, book ii. chap. 2.) " acts not only 
as an ordinary bank, but as a great engine of State; it 
receives and pays a greater part of the annuities which are 
due to the creditors of the public'' (It is worth observing, 
that the public, or the nation, is always put for the govern- 
ment, in speaking of debts.) "It circulates" (says Smith) 
" exchequer bills, and it advances to government the annual 
amount of the land and malt taxes, which are frequently not 
paid till several years afterwards." (This advancement is 
also done in bank notes, for which there is not property in 
the bank.) " In those different operations " (says Smith) 
" its duty to the public may sometimes have obliged it, with- 
out any fault of its directors, to overstock the circulation with 
paper money." — bank notes. How its duty to the public can 
induce it to overstock that public with promissory bank notes 
which it cannot pay, and thereby expose the individuals of 
that public to ruin, is too paradoxical to be explained ; for 
it is on the credit which individuals give to the bank, by 
receiving and circulating its notes, and not upon its own 
credit or its own property, for it has none, that the bank 
sports. If, however, it be the duty of the bank to expose 
the public to this hazard, it is at least equally the duty of 
the individuals of that public to get their money and take 
care of themselves ; and leave it to placemen, pensioners, 
government contractors, Reeves' association, and the mem- 
bers of both houses of Parliament, who have voted away the 
money at the nod of the minister, to continue the credit if 
they can, and for which their estates individually and col- 
lectively ought to answer, as far as they will go. 

There has always existed, and still exists, a mysterious, 
suspicious connection, between the minister and the direc- 
tors of the bank, and which explains itself no otherways 
than by a continual increase in bank notes. Without, 



308 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

therefore, entering into any further details of the various 
contrivances by which bank notes are issued, and thrown 
upon the public, I proceed, as I before mentioned, to offer 
an estimate on the total quantity of bank notes in circu- 
lation. 

However disposed governments may be to wring money 
by taxes from the people, there is a limit to the practice 
established by the nature of things. That limit is the pro- 
portion between the quantity of money in a nation, be that 
quantity what it may, and the greatest quantity of taxes 
that can be raised upon it. People have other uses for 
money besides paying taxes ; and it is only a proportional 
part of the money they can spare for taxes, as it is only a 
proportional part they can spare for house-rent, for clothing, 
or for any other particular use. These proportions find out 
and establish themselves ; and that with such exactness, 
that if any one part exceeds its proportion, all the other parts 
feel it. 

Before the invention of paper money (bank notes,) there 
was no other money in the nation than gold and silver, and 
the greatest quantity of money that was ever raised in taxes 
during that period never exceeded a fourth part of the quan- 
tity of money in the nation. It was high taxing when it 
came to this point. The taxes in the time of William III. 
never reached to four millions before the invention of paper, 
and the quantity of money in the nation at that time was 
estimated to be about sixteen millions. The same propor- 
tions established themselves in France. There was no paper 
money in France before the present revolution, and the 
taxes were collected in gold and silver money. The highest 
quantity of taxes never exceeded twenty-two millions ster- 
ling; and the quantity of gold and silver money in the 
nation at the same time, as stated by M. Neckar, from 
returns of coinage at the Mint, in his Treatise on the Ad- 
ministration of the Finances, was about ninety millions 
sterling. To go beyond this limit of a fourth part, in Eng- 
land, they were obliged to introduce paper money ; and the 
attempt to go beyond it in France, where paper could not 



I79 6 ] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 309 

be introduced, broke up the government. This proportion, 
therefore, of a fourth part, is the limit which the thing 
establishes for itself, be the quantity of money in a nation 
more or less. 

The amount of taxes in England at this time is full twenty 
millions ; and therefore the quantity of gold and silver, and 
of bank notes, taken together, amounts to eighty millions. 
The quantity of gold and silver, as stated by Lord Hawkes- 
bury's Secretary, George Chalmers, as I have before shown, 
is twenty millions ; and, therefore, the total amount of bank 
notes in circulation, all made payable on demand, is sixty 
millions. This enormous sum will astonish the most stupid 
.stock-jobber, and overpower the credulity of the most 
thoughtless Englishman : but were it only a third part of 
that sum, the bank cannot pay half a crown in the pound. 

There is something curious in the movements of this 
modern complicated machine, the funding system ; and it is 
only now that it is beginning to unfold the full extent of its 
movements. In the first part of its movements it gives great 
powers into the hands of government, and in the last part it 
takes them completely away. 

The funding system set out with raising revenues under 
the name of loans, by means of which government became 
both prodigal and powerful. The loaners assumed the name 
of creditors, and though it was soon discovered that loaning 
was government-jobbing, those pretended loaners, or the 
persons who purchased into the funds afterwards, conceived 
themselves not only to be creditors, but to be the only 
creditors. 

But such has been the operation of this complicated 
machine, the funding system, that it has produced, unper- 
ceived, a second generation of creditors, more numerous and 
far more formidable and withal more real than the first gen- 
eration ; for every holder of a bank note is a creditor, and a 
real creditor, and the debt due to him is made payable on 
demand. The debt therefore which the government owes to 
individuals is composed of two parts ; the one about four 
hundred millions bearing interest, the other about sixty mil- 



310 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l79& 

lions payable on demand. The one is called the funded 
debt, the other is the debt due in bank notes. 

The second debt (that contained in the bank notes) has, 
in a great measure, been incurred to pay the interest of the 
first debt ; so that in fact little or no real interest has been 
paid by government. The whole has been delusion and 
fraud. Government first contracted a debt, in the form of 
loans, with one class of people, and then run clandestinely 
into debt with another class, by means of bank notes, to pay 
the interest. Government acted of itself in contracting the 
first debt, and made a machine of the bank to contract the 
second. It is this second debt that changes the seat of 
power and the order of things ; for it puts it in the power of 
even a small part of the holders of bank notes (had they no 
other motives than disgust at Pitt and Grenville's sedition 
bills,) to control any measure of government they found to 
be injurious to their interest ; and that not by popular meet- 
ings, or popular societies, but by the simple and easy opera- 
tion of withholding their credit from that government ; that 
is, by individually demanding payment at the bank for every 
bank note that comes into their hands. Why should Pitt 
and Grenville expect that the very men whom they insult 
and injure, should, at the same time, continue to support the 
measures of Pitt and Grenville, by giving credit to their 
promissory notes of payment ? No new emissions of bank 
notes could go on while payment was demanding on the old, 
and the cash in the bank wasting daily away ; nor any new 
advances be made to government, or to the emperor, to carry 
on the war ; nor any new emission be made on exchequer 
bills. 

" The bank" says Smith, (book ii. chap. 2) " is a great en- 
gine of state." And in the same paragraph he says, " The 
stability of the bank is equal to that of the British govern- 
ment ; " which is the same as to say that the stability of the 
government is equal to that of the bank, and no more. If 
then the bank cannot pay, the arch-treasurer of the holy 
Roman ejnpire (S. R. I. A.*) is a bankrupt. When Folly in- 
vented titles, she did not attend to their application ; for 

* Part of the inscription on an English guinea. — Author. 



1796] THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 311 

ever since the government of England has been in the hands 
of arch-treasurers, it has been running into bankruptcy ; and 
as to the arch-treasurer apparent, he has been a bankrupt 
long ago. What a miserable prospect has England before 
its eyes ! 

Before the war of 1755 there were no bank notes lower 
than twenty pounds. During that war, bank notes of fifteen 
pounds and of ten pounds were coined ; and now, since the 
commencement of the present war, they are coined as low 
as five pounds. These five-pound notes will circulate chiefly 
among little shop-keepers, butchers, bakers, market-people, 
renters of small houses, lodgers, &c. All the high depart- 
ments of commerce and the affluent stations of life were 
already overstocked, as Smith expresses it, with the bank 
notes. No place remained open wherein to crowd an addi- 
tional quantity of bank notes but among the class of people 
I have just mentioned, and the means of doing this could 
be best effected by coining five-pound notes. This conduct 
has the appearance of that of an unprincipled insolvent, who, 
when on the verge of bankruptcy to the amount of many 
thousands, will borrow as low as five pounds of the servants 
in his house, and break the next day. 

But whatever momentary relief or aid the minister and his 
bank might expect from this low contrivance of five-pound 
notes, it will increase the inability of the bank to pay the 
higher notes, and hasten the destruction of all ; for even the 
small taxes that used to be paid in money will now be paid 
in those notes, and the bank will soon find itself with scarcely 
any other money than what the hair-powder guinea-tax 
brings in. 

The bank notes make the most serious part of the business 
of finance : what is called the national funded debt is but a 
trifle when put in comparison with it ; yet the case of the 
bank notes has never been touched upon. But it certainly 
ought to be known upon what authority, whether that of 
the minister or of the directors, and upon what foundation, 
such immense quantities are issued. I have stated the 
amount of them at sixty millions ; I have produced data for 
that estimation ; and besides this, the apparent quantity of 



312 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1796 

them, far beyond that of gold and silver in the nation, cor- 
roborates the statement. But were there but a third part 
of sixty millions, the bank cannot pay half a crown in the 
pound ; for no new supply of money, as before said, can 
arrive at the bank, as all the taxes will be paid in paper. 

When the funding system began, it was not doubted that 
the loans that had been borrowed would be repaid. Govern- 
ment not only propagated that belief, but it began paying 
them off. In time this profession came to be abandoned : 
and it is not difficult to see that bank notes will march the 
same way ; for the amount of them is only another debt 
under another name ; and the probability is that Mr. Pitt 
will at last propose funding them. In that case bank notes 
will not be so valuable as French assignats. The assignats 
have a solid property in reserve, in the national domains ; 
bank notes have none ; and, besides this, the English revenue 
must then sink down to what the amount of it was before 
the funding system began — between three and four millions ; 
one of which the arch-treasurer would require for himself, 
and the arch-treasurer apparent would require three-quarters 
of a million more to pay his debts. *' In France" says Sterne, 
" they order these things better." 

I have now exposed the English system of finance to the 
eyes of all nations ; for this work will be published in all 
languages. In doing this, I have done an act of justice to 
those numerous citizens of neutral nations who have been 
imposed upon by that fraudulent system, and who have 
property at stake upon the event. 

As an individual citizen of America, and as far as an 
individual can go, I have revenged (if I may use the expres- 
sion without any immoral meaning) the piratical depreda- 
tions committed on the American commerce by the English 
government. I have retaliated for France on the subject of 
finance : and I conclude with retorting on Mr. Pitt the ex- 
pression he used against France, and say, that the English 
system of finance " IS ON THE VERGE, NAY EVEN IN THE 

gulph of bankruptcy." 

Thomas Paine. 

Paris, 19th Germinal. 4th year of the Republic, April 8, 1796. 



XXVII. 
FORGETFULNESS. 1 

FROM "THE CASTLE IN THE AIR," TO THE "LITTLE 
CORNER OF THE WORLD." 

MEMORY, like a beauty that is always present to hear her- 
self flattered, is flattered by every one. But the absent and 
silent goddess, Forgetfulness, has no votaries, and is never 
thought of : yet we owe her much. She is the goddess of 
ease, though not of pleasure. 

When the mind is like a room hung with black, and every 
corner of it crowded with the most horrid images imagina- 
tion can create, this kind speechless goddess of a maid, For- 
getfulness, is following us night and day with her opium 
wand, and gently touching first one, and then another, be- 
numbs them into rest, and at last glides them away with 
the silence of a departing shadow. It is thus the tortured 
mind is restored to the calm condition of ease, and fitted for 
happiness. 

1 This undated composition, of much biographical interest, was shown by 
Paine to Henry Redhead Yorke, who visited him in Paris (1802), and was 
allowed to copy the only portions now preserved. In the last of Yorke's Letters 
from France (Lond., 18 14), thirty-three pages are given to Paine. Under the 
name " Little Corner of the World," Lady Smyth wrote cheering letters to 
Paine in his prison, and he replied to his then unknown correspondent under 
the name of ** The Castle in the Air." After his release he discovered in his 
correspondent a lady who had appealed to him for assistance, no doubt for her 
husband. With Sir Robert (an English banker in Paris) and Lady Smyth, 
Paine formed a fast friendship which continued through life. Sir Robert was 
born in 1744, and married (1776) a Miss Blake of Hanover Square, London. 
He died in 1802 of illness brought on by his imprisonment under Napoleon. 
Several of Paine' s poems were addressed to Lady Smyth. — Editor* 



314 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

How dismal must the picture of life appear to the mind 
in that dreadful moment when it resolves on darkness, and 
to die ! One can scarcely believe such a choice was possible. 
Yet how many of the young and beautiful, timid in every 
thing else, and formed for delight, have shut their eyes 
upon the world, and made the waters their sepulchral bed ! 
Ah, would they in that crisis, when life and death are before 
them, and each within their reach, would they but think, or 
try to think, that Forgetfulness will come to their relief, and 
lull them into ease, they could stay their hand, and lay hold 
of life. But there is a necromancy in wretchedness that en- 
tombs the mind, and increases the misery, by shutting out 
every ray of light and hope. It makes the wretched falsely 
believe they will be wretched ever. It is the most fatal of all 
dangerous delusions ; and it is only when this necromantic 
night-mare of the mind begins to vanish, by being resisted, 
that it is discovered to be but a tyrannic spectre. All grief, 
like all things else, will yield to the obliterating power of 
time. While despair is preying on the mind, time and its 
effects are preying on despair ; and certain it is, the dismal 
vision will fade away, and Forgetfulness, with her sister Ease, 
will change the scene. Then let not the wretched be rash, 
but wait, painful as the struggle may be, the arrival of For- 
getfulness ; for it will certainly arrive. 

I have twice been present at the scene of attempted 
suicide. The one a love-distracted girl in England, the 
other of a patriotic friend in France ; and as the circum- 
stances of each are strongly pictured in my memory, I will 
relate them to you. They will in some measure corroborate 
what I have said of Forgetfulness. 

About the year 1766, I was in Lincolnshire, in England, 

and on a visit at the house of a widow lady, Mrs. E , at 

a small village in the fens of that county. It was in sum- 
mer ; and one evening after supper, Mrs. E and myself 

went to take a turn in the garden. It was about eleven 
o'clock, and to avoid the night air of the fens, we were walk- 
ing in a bower, shaded over with hazel bushes. On a sud- 
den, she screamed out, and cried "Lord, look, look!" I 



1797] FORGE TFULNESS. 3 1 $ 

cast my eyes through the openings of the hazel bushes in 
the direction she was looking, and saw a white shapeless 
figure, without head or arms, moving along one of the walks 

at some distance from us. I quitted Mrs. E , and went 

after it. When I got into the walk where the figure was, 
and was following it, it took up another walk. There was a 
holly bush in the corner of the two walks, which, it being 
night, I did not observe ; and as I continued to step for- 
ward, the holly bush came in a straight line between me and 
the figure, and I lost sight of it ; and as I passed along one 
walk, and the figure the other, the holly bush still continued 
to intercept the view, so as to give the appearance that the 
figure had vanished. When I came to the corner of the two 
walks, I caught sight of it again, and coming up with it, I 
reached out my hand to touch it ; and in the act of doing 
this, the idea struck me, will my hand pass through the air, 
or shall I feel any thing ? Less than a moment would de- 
cide this, and my hand rested on the shoulder of a human 
figure. I spoke, but do not recollect what I said. It an- 
swered in a low voice, " Pray let me alone." I then knew 
who it was. It was a young lady who was on a visit to 

Mrs. E , and who, when we sat down to supper, said she 

found herself extremely ill, and would go to bed. I called 

to Mrs. E , who came, and I said to her, " It is Miss 

N ." Mrs. E said, " My God, I hope you are not 

going to do yourself any hurt ; " for Mrs. E suspected 

something. She replied with pathetic melancholy, " Life 
has not one pleasure for me." We got her into the house, 

and Mrs. E took her to sleep with her. 

The case was, the man to whom she expected to be 
married had forsaken her, and when she heard he was to be 
married to another the shock appeared to her to be too great 
to be borne. She had retired, as I have said, to her room, and 
when she supposed all the family were gone to bed, (which 

would have been the case if Mrs. E and I had not 

walked into the garden,) she undressed herself, and tied her 
apron over her head ; which, descending below her waist, 
gave her the shapeless figure I have spoken of. With this 



3l6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

and a white under petticoat and slippers, for she had taken 
out her buckles and put them at the servant maid's door, I 
suppose as a keepsake, and aided by the obscurity of almost 
midnight, she came down stairs, and was going to drown her- 
self in a pond at the bottom of the garden, towards which 

she was going when Mrs. E screamed out. We found 

afterwards that she had heard the scream, and that was the 
cause of her changing her walk. 

By gentle usage, and leading her into subjects that might, 
without doing violence to her feelings, and without letting 
her see the direct intention of it, steal her as it were from the 
horror she was in, (and I felt a compassionate, earnest dis- 
position to do it, for she was a good girl,) she recovered her 
former cheerfulness, and was afterwards a happy wife, and 
the mother of a family. 

The other case, and the conclusion in my next : 
In Paris, in 1793, I had lodgings in the Rue Fauxbourg, 
St. Denis, No. 63. 1 They were the most agreeable, for situ- 
ation, of any I ever had in Paris, except that they were too 
remote from the Convention, of which I was then a member. 
But this was recompensed by their being also remote from 
the alarms and confusion into which the interior of Paris 
was then often thrown. The news of those things used to 
arrive to us, as if we were in a state of tranquility in the coun- 
try. The house, which was enclosed by a wall and gateway 
from the street, was a good deal like an old mansion farm 
house, and the court yard was like a farm-yard, stocked with 
fowls, ducks, turkies, and geese ; which, for amusement, we 
used to feed out of the parlour window on the ground floor. 
There were some hutches for rabbits, and a sty with two 
pigs. Beyond, was a garden of more than an acre of ground, 
well laid out, and stocked with excellent fruit trees. The 
orange, apricot, and green-gage plum, were the best I ever 
tasted ; and it is the only place where I saw the wild cucum- 
ber. The place had formerly been occupied by some curious 
person. 8 

1 This ancient mansion is still standing (1895). — Editor. 

2 Madame de Pompadour, among others. — Editor, 



1797] FORGETFULNESS. 3 17 

My apartments consisted of three rooms ; the first for 
wood, water, etc., with an old fashioned closet chest, high 
enough to hang up clothes in ; the next was the bed room \ 
and beyond it the sitting room, which looked into the gar- 
den through a glass door ; and on the outside there was a 
small landing place railed in, and a flight of narrow stairs 
almost hidden by the vines that grew over it, by which I 
could descend into the garden, without going down stairs 
through the house. I am trying by description to make you 
see the place in your mind, because it will assist the story I 
have to tell ; and which I think you can do, because you once 
called upon me there on account of Sir [Robert Smyth], 
who was then, as I was soon afterwards, in arrestation. But 
it was winter when you came, and it is a summer scene I am 
describing. 

I went into my chambers to write and sign a certificate for 
them, which I intended to take to the guard house to obtain 
their release. Just as I had finished it a man came into my 
room dressed in the Parisian uniform of a captain, and spoke 
to me in good English, and with a good address. He told 
me that two young men, Englishmen, were arrested and de- 
tained in the guard house, and that the section, (meaning 
those who represented and acted for the section,) had sent 
him to ask me if I knew them, in which case they would be 
liberated. This matter being soon settled between us, he 
talked to me about the Revolution, and something about the 
" Rights of Man," which he had read in English ; and at 
parting offered me in a polite and civil manner, his services. 
And who do you think the man was that offered me his ser- 
vices ? It was no other than the public executioner Samson, 
who guillotined the king, and all who were guillotined in 
Paris ; and who lived in the same section, and in the same 

street with me. 

* * * * 

As to myself, I used to find some relief by walking alone 
in the garden after dark, and cursing with hearty good will 



3l8 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

the authors of that terrible system that had turned the 
character of the Revolution I had been proud to defend. 

I went but little to the Convention, and then only to make 
my appearance ; because I found it impossible to join in 
their tremendous decrees, and useless and dangerous to op- 
pose them. My having voted and spoken extensively, more 
so than any other member, against the execution of the king, 
had already fixed a mark upon me : neither dared any of my 
associates in the Convention to translate and speak in French 
for me anything I might have dared to have written. 



Pen and ink were then of no use to me : no good could be 
done by writing, and no printer dared to print ; and what- 
ever I might have written for my private amusement, as 
anecdotes of the times, would have been continually exposed 
to be examined, and tortured into any meaning that the rage 
of party might fix upon it ; and as to softer subjects, my 
heart was in distress at the fate of my friends, and my harp 
hung upon the weeping willows. 1 

As it was summer we spent most of our time in the gar- 
den, and passed it away in those childish amusements that 
serve to keep reflection from the mind, such as marbles, 
scotch-hops, battledores, etc., at which we were all pretty 
expert. 

In this retired manner we remained about six or seven 
weeks, and our landlord went every evening into the city to 
bring us the news of the day and the evening journal. 

I have now, my " Little Corner of the World," led you 
on, step by step, to the scene that makes the sequel to this 
narrative, and I will put that scene before your eyes. You 
shall see it in description as I saw it in fact. 2 



He recovered, and being anxious to get out of France, a 
passage was obtained for him and Mr. Choppin : they re- 

1 This allusion is to the Girondins. — Editor. 

9 Yorke omits the description "from motives of personal delicacy." The 
case was that of young Johnson, a wealthy devotee of Paine in London, who 



1797] FORGE TFULNESS. 3 1 9 

ceived it late in the evening, and set off the next morning 
for Basle before four, from which place I had a letter from 
them, highly pleased with their escape from France, into 
which they had entered with an enthusiasm of patriotic de- 
votion. Ah, France! thou hast ruined the character of a 
Revolution virtuously begun, and destroyed those who 
produced it. I might almost say like Job's servant, " and I 
only am escaped." 

Two days after they were gone I heard a rapping at the 
gate, and looking out of the window of the bed room I saw 
the landlord going with the candle to the gate, which he 
opened, and a guard with musquets and fixed bayonets en- 
tered. I went to bed again, and made up my mind for 
prison, for I was then the only lodger. It was a guard to 
take up [Johnson and Choppin], but, I thank God, they 
were out of their reach. 

The guard came about a month after in the night, and took 
away the landlord Georgeit ; and the scene in the house fin- 
ished with the arrestation of myself. This was soon after you 
called on me, and sorry I was it was not in my power to render 
to [Sir Robert Smyth] the service that you asked. 

I have now fulfilled my engagement, and I hope your ex- 
pectation, in relating the case of [Johnson], landed back on 
the shore of life, by the mistake of the pilot who was conduct- 
ing him out ; and preserved afterwards from prison, perhaps 
a worse fate, without knowing it himself. 

You say a story cannot be too melancholy for you. This 
is interesting and affecting, but not melancholy. It may raise 
in your mind a sympathetic sentiment in reading it ; and 
though it may start a tear of pity, you will not have a tear 
of sorrow to drop on the page. 

* -x- * * 

Here, my contemplative correspondent, let us stop and 
look back upon the scene. The matters here related being 

had followed him to Paris and lived in the same house with him. Hearing that 
Marat had resolved on Paine's death, Johnson wrote a will bequeathing his 
property to Paine, then stabbed himself, but recovered. Paine was examined 
about this incident at Marat's trial. (Moniteur, April 24, 1793.) See my " Life 
of Paine," vol. ii., p. 48 seq. — Editor. 



320 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE, [1797 

all facts, are strongly pictured in my mind, and in this sense 
Forgetfulness does not apply. But facts and feelings are 
distinct things, and it is against feelings that the opium wand 
of Forgetfulness draws us into ease. Look back on any scene 
or subject that once gave you distress, for all of us have felt 
some, and you will find, that though the remembrance of the 
fact is not extinct in your memory, the feeling is extinct in 
your mind. You can remember when you had felt distress, 
but you cannot feel that distress again, and perhaps will 
wonder you felt it then. It is like a shadow that loses itself 
by light. 

It is often difficult to know what is a misfortune : that 
which we feel as a great one today, may be the means of 
turning aside our steps into some new path that leads to 
happiness yet unknown. In tracing the scenes of my own 
life, I can discover that the condition I now enjoy, which is 
sweet to me, and will be more so when I get to America, 
except by the loss of your society, has been produced, in the 
first instance, in my being disappointed in former projects. 
Under that impenetrable veil, futurity, we know not what is 
concealed, and the day to arrive is hidden from us. Turning 
then our thoughts to those cases of despair that lead to sui- 
cide, when, " the mind," as you say, " neither sees nor hears, 
and holds counsel only with itself ; when the very idea of 
consolation would add to the torture, and self-destruction is 
its only aim," what, it may be asked, is the best advice, what 
the best relief? I answer, seek it not in reason, for the mind 
is at war with reason, and to reason against feelings is as vain 
as to reason against fire : it serves only to torture the torture, 
by adding reproach to horror. All reasoning with ourselves 
in such cases acts upon us like the reason of another person, 
which, however kindly done, serves but to insult the misery 
we suffer. If reason could remove the pain, reason would 
have prevented it. If she could not do the one, how is she 
to perform the other? In all such cases we must look upon 
Reason as dispossessed of her empire, by a revolt of the mind. 
She retires herself to a distance to weep, and the ebony seep- 



1797] 



FORGE TFULNESS. 



321 



tre of Despair rules alone. All that Reason can do is to 
suggest, to hint a thought, to signify a wish, to cast now and 
then a kind of bewailing look, to hold up, when she can catch 
the eye, the miniature-shaded portrait of Hope ; and though 
dethroned, and can dictate no more, to wait upon us in the 
humble station of a handmaid. 

VOL. MI. — 21 




XXVIII. 
AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 

editor's introduction. 

This pamphlet appeared first in Paris, 1797, with the title : 
" Thomas Payne a La Legislature et au Directoire. Ou la 
Justice Agraire opposee a la Loi Agraire, et aux privileges 
agraires. Prix 15 sols. A Paris, chez la citoyenne Ragou- 
leau, pres le Theatre de la Republique, No. 229. Et chez les 
Marchands de Nouveautes." A prefatory note says (trans- 
lated) : " The sudden departure of Thomas Paine has pre- 
vented his supervising the translation of this work, to which 
he attached great value. He entrusted it to a friend. It is 
for the reader to decide whether the scheme here set forth is 
worthy of the publicity given it." (Paine had gone to Havre 
early in May with the Monroes, intending to accompany them 
to America, but, rightly suspecting plans for his capture by 
an English cruiser, returned to Paris.) In the same year the 
pamphlet was printed in English, by W. Adlard in Paris, and 
in London for " T. Williams, No. 8 Little Turnstile, Holborn." 
Paine's preface to the London edition contained some sen- 
tences which the publishers, as will be seen, suppressed under 
asterisks, and two sentences were omitted from the pamphlet 
which I have supplied from the French. The English title 
adds a brief resume of Paine's scheme to the caption — 
" Agrarian Justice opposed to Agrarian Law, and to Agrarian 
Monopoly." The work was written in the winter of 1795-6, 
when Paine was still an invalid in Monroe's house, though 
not published until 1797. 

The prefatory Letter to the Legislature and the Directory, 
now for the first time printed in English, is of much histori- 
cal interest, and shows the title of the pamphlet related to 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 323 

the rise of Socialism in France. The leader of that move- 
ment, Francois Noel Babeuf, a frantic and pathetic figure of 
the time, had just been executed. He had named himself 
" Gracchus,'' and called his journal " Tribune du Peuple," in 
homage to the Roman Tribune, Caius Gracchus, the original 
socialist and agrarian, whose fate (suicide of himself and his 
servant) Babeuf and his disciple Darth£ invoked in prison, 
whence they were carried bleeding to the guillotine. This, 
however, was on account of the conspiracy they had formed, 
with the remains of the Robespierrian party and some dis- 
guised royalists, to overthrow the government. The socialistic 
propaganda of Babeuf, however, prevailed over all other ele- 
ments of the conspiracy : the reactionary features of the 
Constitution, especially the property qualification of suffrage 
{of whose effects Paine had warned the Convention in the 
speech printed in this volume, chapter xxv.) and the pov- 
erty which survived a revolution that promised its abolition, 
had excited wide discontent. The " Babouvists " numbered 
as many as 17,000 in Paris. Babeuf and Lepelletier were 
appointed by the secret council of this fraternity (which took 
the name of " Equals ") a " Directory of Public Safety." 
May 11, 1796, was fixed for seizing on the government, and 
Babeuf had prepared his Proclamation of the socialistic mil- 
lennium. But the plot was discovered, May 10th, the leaders 
arrested, and, after a year's delay, two of them executed, — 
the best-hearted men in the movement, Babeuf and Darthe. 
Paine too had been moved by the cry for " Bread, and the 
Constitution of '93 " ; and it is a notable coincidence that in 
that winter of 1795-6, while the socialists were secretly plot- 
ting to seize the kingdom of heaven by violence, Paine was 
devising his plan of relief by taxing inheritances of land, 
anticipating by a hundred years the English budget of Sir 
William Harcourt. Babeuf having failed in his socialist, and 
Pichegru in his royalist, plot, their blows were yet fatal : 
there still remained in the hearts of millions a Babeuf or a 
Pichegru awaiting the chieftain strong enough to combine 
them, as Napoleon presently did, making all the nation 
*' figaux " as parts of a mighty military engine, and satisfying 
the royalist triflers with the pomp and glory of war. 



324 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE, [1797 

AUTHOR'S INSCRIPTION. 

To the Legislature and the Executive Directory of the 
French Republic. 

The plan contained in this work is not adapted for any 
particular country alone : the principle on which it is based 
is general. But as the rights of man are a new study in this 
world, and one needing protection from priestly imposture, 
and the insolence of oppressions too long established, I have 
thought it right to place this little work under your safe- 
guard. When we reflect on the long and dense night in 
which France and all Europe have remained plunged by 
their governments and their priests, we must feel less sur- 
prise than grief at the bewilderment caused by the first 
burst of light that dispels the darkness. The eye accus- 
tomed to darkness can hardly bear at first the broad day- 
light. It is by usage the eye learns to see, and it is the 
same in passing from any situation to its opposite. 

As we have not at one instant renounced all our errors, 
we cannot at one stroke acquire knowledge of all our rights. 
France has had the honour of adding to the word Liberty 
that of Equality ; and this word signifies essentially a prin- 
cipal that admits of no gradation in the things to which it 
applies. But equality is often misunderstood, often misap- 
plied, and often violated. 

Liberty and Property are words expressing all those of our 
possessions which are not of an intellectual nature. There 
are two kinds of property. Firstly, natural property, or that 
which comes to us from the Creator of the universe, — such 
as the earth, air, water. Secondly, artificial or acquired 
property, — the invention of men. In the latter equality is 
impossible ; for to distribute it equally it would be necesary 
that all should have contributed in the same proportion, 
which can never be the case ; and this being the case, every 
individual would hold on to his own property, as his right 
share. Equality of natural property is the subject of this 
little essay. Every individual in the world is born therein 
with legitimate claims on a certain kind of property, or its 
equivalent. 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 325 

The right of voting for persons charged with the execu- 
tion of the laws that govern society is inherent in the word 
Liberty, and constitutes the equality of personal rights. But 
even if that right (of voting) were inherent in property, 
which I deny, the right of suffrage would still belong to all 
equally, because, as I have said, all individuals have legiti- 
mate birthrights in a certain species of property. 

I have always considered the present Constitution of the 
French Republic the best organized system the human mind 
has yet produced. But I hope my former colleagues will 
not be offended if I warn them of an error which has slip- 
ped into its principle. Equality of the right of suffrage is 
not maintained. This right is in it connected with a con- 
dition on which it ought not to depend ; that is, with a pro- 
portion of a certain tax called " direct." The dignity of 
suffrage is thus lowered ; and, in placing it in the scale 
with an inferior thing, the enthusiasm that right is capable 
of inspiring is diminished. It is impossible to find any 
equivalent counterpoise for the right of suffrage, because 
it is alone worthy to be its own basis, and cannot thrive as 
a graft, or an appendage. 

Since the Constitution was established we have seen two 
conspiracies stranded, — that of Babeuf, and that of some 
obscure personages who decorate themselves with the des- 
picable name of " royalists/' The defect in principle of the 
Constitution was the origin of Babeufs conspiracy. He 
availed himself of the resentment caused by this flaw, and 
instead of seeking a remedy by legitimate and constitutional 
means, or proposing some measure useful to society, the 
conspirators did their best to renew disorder and confu- 
sion, and constituted themselves personally into a Directory, 
which is formally destructive of election and representation. 
They were, in fine, extravagant enough to suppose that 
society, occupied with its domestic affairs, would blindly 
yield to them a directorship usurped by violence. 

The conspiracy of Babeuf was followed in a few months 
by that of the royalists, who foolishly flattered themselves 
with the notion of doing great things by feeble or foul 
means. They counted on all the discontented, from what- 



326 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i797 

ever cause, and tried to rouse, in their turn, the class of peo- 
ple who had been following the others. But these new 
chiefs acted as if they thought society had nothing more at 
heart than to maintain courtiers, pensioners, and all their 
train, under the contemptible title of royalty. My little 
essay will disabuse them, by showing that society is aiming 
at a very different end, — maintaining itself. 

We all know or should know, that the time during which 
a revolution is proceeding is not the time when its resulting 
advantages can be enjoyed. But had Babeuf and his ac- 
complices taken into consideration the condition of France 
under this constitution, and compared it with what it was 
under the tragical revolutionary government, and during the 
execrable reign of Terror, the rapidity of the alteration 
must have appeared to them very striking and astonishing. 
Famine has been replaced by abundance, and by the well- 
founded hope of a near and increasing prosperity. 

As for the defect in the Constitution, I am fully convinced 
that it will be rectified constitutionally, and that this step is 
indispensable ; for so long as it continues it will inspire the 
hopes and furnish the means of conspirators ; and for the 
rest, it is regrettable that a Constitution so wisely organized 
should err so much in its principle. This fault exposes it to 
other dangers which will make themselves felt. Intriguing 
candidates will go about among those who have not the 
means to pay the direct tax and pay it for them, on condi- 
tion of receiving their votes. Let us maintain inviolably 
equality in the sacred right of suffrage : public security can 
never have a basis more solid. Salut et Fraternite. 

Your former colleague, 

Thomas Paine. 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. $2? 

AUTHOR'S ENGLISH PREFACE. 

The following little Piece was written in the winter of 
1795 and 96 ; and, as I had not determined whether to pub- 
lish it during the present war, or to wait till the commence- 
ment of a peace, it has lain by me, without alteration or 
addition, from the time it was written. 

What has determined me to publish it now is, a sermon 
preached by Watson, Bishop of Llandaff. Some of my 
Readers will recollect, that this Bishop wrote a Book en- 
titled An Apology for the Bible, in answer to my Second Part 
of the Age of Reason. I procured a copy of his Book, and 
he may depend upon hearing from me on that subject. 

At the end of the Bishop's Book is a List of the Works he 
has written. Among which is the sermon alluded to ; it is 
entitled : " The Wisdom and Goodness of God, in having 
made both Rich and Poor ; with an Appendix, containing 
Reflections on the Present State of England and France." 

The error contained in this sermon determined me to 
publish my Agrarian Justice. It is wrong to say God 
made rick and poor ; he made only male and female ; and 
he gave them the earth for their inheritance. 1 . . . 

Instead of preaching to encourage one part of mankind in 
insolence ... it would be better that Priests employed 
their time to render the general condition of man less miser- 
able than it is. Practical religion consists in doing good : 
and the only way of serving God is, that of endeavouring to 
make his creation happy. All preaching that has not this 
for its object is nonsense and hypocracy. 

Thomas Paine. 

1 The omissions are noted in the English edition of 1797. — Editor. 



328 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 

To preserve the benefits of what is called civilized life, and 
to remedy at the same time the evil which it has produced, 
ought to be considered as one of the first objects of reformed 
legislation. 

Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, 
called civilization, has most promoted or most injured the 
general happiness of man, is a question that may be strongly 
contested. On one side, the spectator is dazzled by splen- 
did appearances ; on the other, he is shocked by extremes 
of wretchedness ; both of which it has erected. The most 
affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be 
found in the countries that are called civilized. 

To understand what the state of society ought to be, it is 
necessary to have some idea of the natural and primitive 
state of man ; such as it is at this day among the Indians of 
North America. There is not, in that state, any of those 
spectacles of human misery which poverty and want present 
to our eyes in all the towns and streets in Europe. Poverty, 
therefore, is a thing created by that which is called civilized 
life. It exists not in the natural state. On the other hand, 
the natural state is without those advantages which flow 
from agriculture, arts, science, and manufactures. 

The life of an Indian is a continual holiday, compared 
with the poor of Europe ; and, on the other hand it ap- 
pears to be abject when compared to the rich. Civilization, 
therefore, or that which is so called, has operated two ways: 
to make one part of society more affluent, and the other 
more wretched, than would have been the lot of either in a 
natural state. 

It is always possible to go from the natural to the civil- 
ized state, but it is never possible to go from the civilized to 
the natural state. The reason is, that man in a natural 
state, subsisting by hunting, requires ten times the quantity 
of land to range over to procure himself sustenance, than 
would support him in a civilized state, where the earth is 
cultivated. When, therefore, a country becomes populous 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 3 2 9 

by the additional aids of cultivation, art, and science, there is 
a necessity of preserving things in that state ; because with- 
out it there cannot be sustenance for more, perhaps, than a 
tenth part of its inhabitants. The thing, therefore, now to 
be done is to remedy the evils and preserve the benefits 
that have arisen to society by passing from the natural to 
that which is called the civilized state. 

In taking the matter upon this ground, the first principle 
of civilization ought to have been, and ought still to be, 
that the condition of every person born into the world, after 
a state of civilization commences, ought not to be worse 
than if he had been born before that period. But the 
fact is, that the condition of millions, in every country in 
Europe, is far worse than if they had been born before civil- 
ization began, or had been born among the Indians of North- 
America at the present day. I will shew how this fact has 
happened. 

It is a position not to be controverted that the earth, in 
its natural uncultivated ( state was, and ever would have con- 
tinued to be, the common property of the human race. In that 
state every man would have been born to property. He 
would have been a joint life proprietor with the rest in the 
property of the soil, and in all its natural productions, vege- 
table and animal. 

But the earth in its natural state, as before said, is capa- 
ble of supporting but a small number of inhabitants com- 
pared with what it is capable of doing in a cultivated state. 
And as it is impossible to separate the improvement made 
by cultivation from the earth itself, upon which that im- 
provement is made, the idea of landed property arose from 
that inseparable connection ; but it is nevertheless true, that 
it is the value of the improvement only, and not the earth 
itself, that is individual property. Every proprietor, there- 
fore, of cultivated land, owes to the community a ground- 
rent (for I know of no better term to express the idea) for 
the land which he holds ; and it is from this ground-rent 
that the fund proposed in this plan is to issue. 

It is deducible, as well from the nature of the thing as 



330 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

from all the histories transmitted to us, that the idea of 
landed property commenced with cultivation, and that there 
was no such thing as landed property before that time. It 
could not exist in the first state of man, that of hunters. It 
did not exist in the second state, that of shepherds : neither 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, nor Job, so far as the history of the 
Bible may be credited in probable things, were owners of 
land. Their property consisted, as is always enumerated, in 
flocks and herds, and they travelled with them from place 
to place. The frequent contentions at that time, about the 
use of a well in the dry country of Arabia, where those 
people lived, also shew that there was no landed property. 
It was not admitted that land could be claimed as property. 

There could be no such thing as landed property originally. 
Man did not make the earth, and, though he had a natural 
right to occupy it, he had no right to locate as his property in 
perpetuity any part of it ; neither did the creator of the 
earth open a land-office, from whence the first title-deeds 
should issue. Whence then, arose the idea of landed prop- 
erty ? I answer as before, that when cultivation began the 
idea of landed property began with it, from the impossibility 
of separating the improvement made by cultivation from 
the earth itself, upon which that improvement was made. 
The value of the improvement so far exceeded the value of 
the natural earth, at that time, as to absorb it ; till, in the 
end, the common right of all became confounded into the 
cultivated right of the individual. But there are, neverthe- 
less, distinct species of rights, and will continue to be so 
long as the earth endures. 

It is only by tracing things to their origin that we can gain 
rightful ideas of them, and it is by gaining such ideas that we 
discover the boundary that divides right from wrong, and 
teaches every man to know his own. I have entitled this 
tract Agrarian Justice, to distinguish it from Agrarian Law. 
Nothing could be more unjust than Agrarian Law in a 
country improved by cultivation ; for though every man, as 
an inhabitant of the earth, is a joint proprietor of it in its 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 33 1 

natural state, it does not follow that he is a joint proprietor 
of cultivated earth. The additional value made by cultiva- 
tion, after the system was admitted, became the property of 
those who did it, or who inherited it from them, or who 
purchased it. It had originally no owner. Whilst, there- 
fore, I advocate the right, and interest myself in the hard 
case of all those who have been thrown out of their natural 
inheritance by the introduction of the system of landed prop- 
erty, I equally defend the right of the possessor to the part 
which is his. 

Cultivation is at least one of the greatest natural improve- 
ments ever made by human invention. It has given to 
created earth a tenfold value. But the landed monopoly 
that began with it has produced the greatest evil. It has 
dispossessed more than half the inhabitants of every nation 
of their natural inheritance, without providing for them, as 
ought to have been done, an indemnification for that loss, 
and has thereby created a species of poverty and wretched- 
ness that did not exist before. 

In advocating the case of the persons thus dispossessed, it 
is a right, and not a charity, that I am pleading for. But it 
is that kind of right which, being neglected at first, could 
not be brought forward afterwards till heaven had opened 
the way by a revolution in the system of government. Let 
us then do honour to revolutions by justice, and give cur- 
rency to their principles by blessings. 

Having thus in a few words, opened the merits of the 
case, I shall now proceed to the plan I have to propose, 
which is, 

To create a National Fund, out of which there shall be 
paid to every person, when arrived at the age of twenty- 
one years, the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, as a com- 
pensation in part, for the loss of his or her natural inheri- 
tance, by the introduction of the system of landed property: 

And also, the sum of ten pounds per annum, during life, 
to every person now living, of the age of fifty years, and to 
all others as they shall arrive at that age. 



33 2 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

MEANS BY WHICH THE FUND IS TO BE CREATED. 

I have already established the principle, namely, that the 
earth, in its natural uncultivated state was, and ever would 
have continued to be, the common property of the human 
race ; that in that state, every person would have been born 
to property ; and that the system of landed property, by its 
inseparable connection with cultivation, and with what is 
called civilized life, has absorbed the property of all those 
whom it dispossessed, without providing, as ought to have 
been done, an indemnification for that loss. 

The fault, however, is not in the present possessors. No 
complaint is intended, or ought to be alleged against them, 
unless they adopt the crime by opposing justice. The fault 
is in the system, and it has stolen imperceptibly upon the 
world, aided afterwards by the agrarian law of the sword. 
But the fault can be made to reform itself by successive gen- 
erations ; and without diminishing or deranging the property 
of any of the present possessors, the operation of the fund 
can yet commence, and be in full activity, the first year of 
its establishment, or soon after, as I shall shew. 

It is proposed that the payments, as already stated, be 
made to every person, rich or poor. It is best to make it so, 
to prevent invidious distinctions. It is also right it should 
be so, because it is in lieu of the natural inheritance, which, 
as a right, belongs to every man, over and above the prop- 
erty he may have created, or inherited from those who did. 
Such persons as do not choose to receive it can throw it into 
the common fund. 

Taking it then for granted that no person ought to be in 
a worse condition when born under what is called a state of 
civilization, than he would have been had he been born in a 
state of nature, and that civilization ought to have made, 
and ought still to make, provision for that purpose, it can 
only be done by subtracting from property a portion equal 
in value to the natural inheritance it has absorbed. 

Various methods may be proposed for this purpose, but 
that which appears to be the best (not only because it will 
operate without deranging any present possessors, or with- 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 333 

out interfering with the collection of taxes or emprunts 
necessary for the purposes of government and the revolu- 
tion, but because it will be the least troublesome and the 
most effectual, and also because the subtraction will be 
made at a time that best admits it) is at the moment that 
property is passing by the death of one person to the pos- 
session of another. In this case, the bequeather gives noth- 
ing : the receiver pays nothing. The only matter to him is, 
that the monopoly of natural inheritance, to which there 
never was a right, begins to cease in his person. A generous 
man would not wish it to continue, and a just man will re- 
joice to see it abolished. 

My state of health prevents my making sufficient inquiries 
with respect to the doctrine of probabilities, whereon to 
found calculations with such degrees of certainty as they are 
capable of. What, therefore, I offer on this head is more 
the result of observation and reflection than of received in- 
formation ; but I believe it will be found to agree suffi- 
ciently with fact. 

In the first place, taking twenty-one years as the epoch of 
maturity, all the property of a nation, real and personal, is 
always in the possession of persons above that age. It is 
then necessary to know, as a datum of calculation, the 
average of years which persons above that age will live. I 
take this average to be about thirty years, for though many 
persons will live forty, fifty, or sixty years after the age of 
twenty-one years, others will die much sooner, and some in 
every year of that time. 

Taking, then, thirty years as the average of time, it will 
give, without any material variation one way or other, the 
average of time in which the whole property or capital of a 
nation, or a sum equal thereto, will have passed through one 
entire revolution in descent, that is, will have gone by 
deaths to new possessors ; for though, in many instances, 
some parts of this capital will remain forty, fifty, or sixty 
years in the possession of one person, other parts will have 
revolved two or three times before those thirty years expire, 
which will bring it to that average ; for were one half the 



334 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

capital of a nation to revolve twice in thirty years, it would 
produce the same fund as if the whole revolved once. 

Taking, then, thirty years as the average of time in which 
the whole capital of a nation, or a sum equal thereto, will 
revolve once, the thirtieth part thereof will be the sum that 
will revolve every year, that is, will go by deaths to new 
possessors ; and this last sum being thus known, and the 
ratio per cent, to be subtracted from it determined, it will 
give the annual amount or income of the proposed fund, to 
be applied as already mentioned. 

In looking over the discourse of the English minister, 
Pitt, in his opening of what is called in England the budget, 
(the scheme of finance for the year 1796,) I find an estimate 
of the national capital of that country. As this estimate of 
a national capital is prepared ready to my hand, I take it as 
a datum to act upon. When a calculation is made upon the 
known capital of any nation, combined with its population, 
it will serve as a scale for any other nation, in proportion as 
its capital and population be more or less. I am the more 
disposed to take this estimate of Mr. Pitt, for the purpose of 
showing to that minister, upon his own calculation, how 
much better money may be employed than in wasting it, as 
he has done, on the wild project of setting up Bourbon 
kings. What, in the name of heaven, are Bourbon kings to 
the people of England ? It is better that the people have 
bread. 

Mr. Pitt states the national capital of England, real and 
personal, to be one thousand three hundred millions sterling, 
which is about one-fourth part of the national capital of 
France, including Belgia. The event of the last harvest 
in each country proves that the soil of France is more pro- 
ductive than that of England, and that it can better support 
twenty-four or twenty-five millions of inhabitants than that 
of England can seven or seven and a half millions. 

The thirtieth part of this capital of 1,300,000,000/. is 
43,333,333/. which is the part that will revolve every year by 
deaths in that country to new possessors ; and the sum that 
will annually revolve in France in the proportion of four to 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 335 

one, will be about one hundred and seventy-three millions 
sterling. From this sum of 43,333,333/. annually revolving, 
is to be subtracted the value of the natural inheritance ab- 
sorbed in it, which, perhaps, in fair justice, cannot be taken 
at less, and ought not to be taken for more, than a tenth 
part. 

It will always happen, that of the property thus revolving 
by deaths every year a part will descend in a direct line to 
sons and daughters, and the other part collaterally, and the 
proportion will be found to be about three to one ; that is, 
about thirty millions of the above sum will descend to direct 
heirs, and the remaining sum of 13,333,333/. to more distant 
relations, and in part to strangers. 

Considering, then, that man is always related to society, 
that relationship will become comparatively greater in pro- 
portion as the next of kin is more distant, it is therefore 
consistent with civilization to say that where there are no 
direct heirs society shall be heir to a part over and above 
the tenth part due to society. If this additional part be 
from five to ten or twelve per cent., in proportion as the 
next of kin be nearer or more remote, so as to average with 
the escheats that may fall, which ought always to go to 
society and not to the government (an addition of ten per 
cent, more), the produce from the annual sum of 43,333,333/. 
will be : 

From 30,000,000/. at ten per cent 3,000,000/. 

From 13,333,333/. at ten per cent, with the ) 

addition of ten \ . 2,666,666 
per cent. more. ) 



43,333.333/- $,666,6661. 

Having thus arrived at the annual amount of the proposed 
fund, I come, in the next place, to speak of the population 
proportioned to this fund, and to compare it with the uses 
to which the fund is to be applied. 

The population (I mean that of England) does not exceed 
seven millions and a half, and the number of persons above 
the age of fifty will in that case be about four hundred thou- 



33^ THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

sand. There would not, however, be more than that number 
that would accept the proposed ten pounds sterling per an- 
num, though they would be entitled to it. I have no idea 
it would be accepted by many persons who had a yearly in- 
come of two or three hundred pounds sterling. But as we 
often see instances of rich people falling into sudden pov- 
erty, even at the age of sixty, they would always have the 
right of drawing all the arrears due to them. Four millions, 
therefore, of the above annual sum of 5 ,666,666/. will be 
required for four hundred thousand aged persons, at ten 
pounds sterling each. 

I come now to speak of the persons annually arriving at 
twenty-one years of age. If all the persons who died were 
above the age of twenty-one years, the number of persons 
annually arriving at that age, must be equal to the annual 
number of deaths, to keep the population stationary. But 
the greater part die under the age of twenty-one, and there- 
fore the number of persons annually arriving at twenty-one 
will be less than half the number of deaths. The whole 
number of deaths upon a population of seven millions and 
an half will be about 220,000 annually. The number arriv- 
ing at twenty-one years of age will be about 100,000. The 
whole number of these will not receive the proposed fifteen 
pounds, for the reasons already mentioned, though, as in 
the former case, they would be entitled to it. Admitting 
then that a tenth part declined receiving it, the amount would 
stand thus : 



Fund annually 

To 400,000 aged persons at 10/, 

each .... 

To 90,000 persons of 21 years, 15/. 

ster. each 



4,000,000/ 
1,350,000 



5,666,666/. 



5,350,000 



Remains ^i6,666l. 



There are, in every country, a number of blind and lame 
persons, totally incapable of earning a livelihood. But as it 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 337 

will always happen that the greater number of blind per- 
sons will be among those who are above the age of fifty 
years, they will be provided for in that class. The re- 
maining sum of 316,666/. will provide for the lame and blind 
under that age, at the same rate of 10/. annually for each 
person. 

Having now gone through all the necessary calculations, 
and stated the particulars of the plan, I shall conclude with 
some observations. 

It is not charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I 
am pleading for. The present state of civilization is as 
odious as it is unjust. It is absolutely the opposite of what 
it should be, and it is necessary that a revolution should be 
made in it. 1 The contrast of affluence and wretchedness 
continually meeting and offending the eye, is like dead and 
living bodies chained together. Though I care as little 
about riches, as any man, I am a friend to riches because 
they are capable of good. I care not how affluent some 
may be, provided that none be miserable in consequence 
of it. But it is impossible to enjoy affluence with the 
felicity it is capable of being enjoyed, whilst so much 
misery is mingled in the scene. The sight of the misery, 
and the unpleasant sensations it suggests, which, though 
they may be suffocated cannot be extinguished, are a 
greater drawback upon the felicity of affluence than the 
proposed 10 per cent, upon property is worth. He that 
would not give the one to get rid of the other has no charity, 
even for himself. 

There are, in every country, some magnificent charities 
established by individuals. It is, however, but little that 
any individual can do, when the whole extent of the misery 
to be relieved is considered. He may satisfy his conscience, 
but not his heart. He may give all that he has, and that all 
will relieve but little. It is only by organizing civilization 
upon such principles as to act like a system of pullies, that 
the whole weight of misery can be removed. 

1 This and the preceding sentence are omitted in all previous English and 
American editions. — Editor. 

VOL III— 22 



33^ THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i797 

The plan here proposed will reach the whole. It will 
immediately relieve and take out of view three classes of 
wretchedness — the blind, the lame, and the aged poor ; and 
it will furnish the rising generation with means to prevent 
their becoming poor ; and it will do this without deranging 
or interfering with any national measures. To shew that 
this will be the case, it is sufficient to observe that the opera- 
tion and effect of the plan will, in all cases, be the same as if 
every individual were voluntarily to make his will and dis- 
pose of his property in the manner here proposed. 

But it is justice, and not charity, that is the principle of 
the plan. In all great cases it is necessary to have a princi- 
ple more universally active than charity ; and, with respect 
to justice, it ought not to be left to the choice of detached 
individuals whether they will do justice or not. Considering 
then, the plan on the ground of justice, it ought to be the 
act of the whole, growing spontaneously out of the principles 
of the revolution, and the reputation of it ought to be national 
and not individual. 

A plan upon this principle would benefit the revolution 
by the energy that springs from the consciousness of justice. 
It would multiply also the national resources ; for property, 
like vegetation, increases by offsets. When a young couple 
begin the world, the difference is exceedingly great whether 
they begin with nothing or with fifteen pounds apiece. With 
this aid they could buy a cow, and implements to cultivate 
a few acres of land ; and instead of becoming burdens upon 
society, which is always the case where children are produced 
faster than they can be fed, would be put in the way of be- 
coming useful and profitable citizens. The national domains 
also would sell the better if pecuniary aids were provided to 
cultivate them in small lots. 

It is the practice of what has unjustly obtained the name 
of civilization (and the practice merits not to be called either 
charity or policy) to make some provision for persons be- 
coming poor and wretched only at the time they become so. 
Would it not, even as a matter of economy, be far better to 
adopt means to prevent their becoming poor? This can best 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 339 

be done by making every person when arrived at the age of 
twenty-one years an inheritor of something to begin with. 
The rugged face of society, chequered with the extremes of 
affluence and want, proves that some extraordinary violence 
has been committed upon it, and calls on justice for redress. 
The great mass of the poor in all countries are become an 
hereditary race, and it is next to impossible for them to get 
out of that state of themselves. It ought also to be ob- 
served that this mass increases in all countries that are 
called civilized. More persons fall annually into it than get 
out of it. 

Though in a plan of which justice and humanity are the 
foundation-principles, interest ought not to be admitted into 
the calculation, yet it is always of advantage to the estab- 
lishment of any plan to shew that it is beneficial as a matter 
of interest. The success of any proposed plan submitted to 
public consideration must finally depend on the numbers 
interested in supporting it, united with the justice of its 
principles. 

The plan here proposed will benefit all, without injuring 
any. It will consolidate the interest of the Republic with 
that of the individual. To the numerous class dispossessed 
of their natural inheritance by the system of landed prop- 
erty it will be an act of national justice. To persons dying 
possessed of moderate fortunes it will operate as a tontine 
to their children, more beneficial than the sum of money 
paid into the fund : and it will give to the accumulation of 
riches a degree of security that none of the old governments 
of Europe, now tottering on their foundations, can give. 

I do not suppose that more than one family in ten, in any 
of the countries of Europe, has, when the head of the family 
dies, a clear property left of five hundred pounds sterling. 
To all such the plan is advantageous. That property would 
pay fifty pounds into the fund, and if there were only two 
children under age they would receive fifteen pounds each, 
(thirty pounds,) on coming of age, and be entitled to ten 
pounds a-year after fifty. It is from the overgrown acquisi- 
tion of property that the fund will support itself ; and I 



340 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i797 

know that the possessors of such property in England r 
though they would eventually be benefited by the protec- 
tion of nine-tenths of it, will exclaim against the plan. But 
without entering into any inquiry how they came by that 
property, let them recollect that they have been the advo- 
cates of this war, and that Mr. Pitt has already laid on more 
new taxes to be raised annually upon the people of England, 
and that for supporting the despotism of Austria and the 
Bourbons against the liberties of France, than would pay 
annually all the sums proposed in this plan. 

I have made the calculations stated in this plan, upon 
what is called personal, as well as upon landed property* 
The reason for making it upon land is already explained; 
and the reason for taking personal property into the calcula- 
tion is equally well founded though on a different principle. 
Land, as before said, is the free gift of the Creator in com- 
mon to the human race. Personal property is the effect of 
society ; and it is as impossible for an individual to acquire 
personal property without the aid of society, as it is for him 
to make land originally. Separate an individual from so- 
ciety, and give him an island or a continent to possess, and 
he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So 
inseparably are the means connected with the end, in all 
cases, that where the former do not exist the latter cannot 
be obtained. All accumulation, therefore, of personal prop- 
erty, beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to 
him by living in society ; and he owes on every principle of 
justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accu- 
mulation back again to society from whence the whole came. 
This is putting the matter on a general principle, and per- 
haps it is best to do so ; for if we examine the case mi- 
nutely it will be found that the accumulation of personal 
property is, in many instances, the effect of paying too little 
for the labour that produced it ; the consequence of which 
is, that the working hand perishes in old age, and the em- 
ployer abounds in affluence. It is, perhaps, impossible to 
proportion exactly the price of labour to the profits it pro- 
duces ; and it will also be said, as an apology for the injus- 



1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 341 

tice, that were a workman to receive an increase of wages 
daily he would not save it against old age, nor be much bet- 
ter for it in the interim. Make, then, society the treasurer 
to guard it for him in a common fund ; for it is no reason, 
that because he might not make a good use of it for himself, 
another should take it. 

The state of civilization that has prevailed throughout 
Europe, is as unjust in its principle, as it is horrid in its 
effects ; and it is the consciousness of this, and the apprehen- 
sion that such a state cannot continue when once investiga- 
tion begins in any country, that makes the possessors of 
property dread every idea of a revolution. It is the hazard 
and not the principle of revolutions that retards their prog- 
ress. This being the case, it is necessary as well for the 
protection of property, as for the sake of justice and human- 
ity, to form a system that, whilst it preserves one part of 
society from wretchedness, shall secure the other from 
depredation. 

The superstitious awe, the enslaving reverence, that for- 
merly surrounded affluence, is passing away in all countries, 
and leaving the possessor of property to the convulsion of 
accidents. When wealth and splendour, instead of fascinat- 
ing the multitude, excite emotions of disgust ; when, instead 
of drawing forth admiration, it is beheld as an insult upon 
wretchedness ; when the ostentatious appearance it makes 
serves to call the right of it in question, the case of property 
becomes critical, and it is only in a system of justice that 
the possessor can contemplate security. 

To remove the danger, it is necessary to remove the an- 
tipathies, and this can only be done by making property 
productive of a national blessing, extending to every indi- 
vidual. When the riches of one man above another shall 
increase the national fund in the same proportion ; when it 
shall be seen that the prosperity of that fund depends on 
the prosperity of individuals ; when the more riches a man 
acquires, the better it shall be for the general mass ; it is 
then that antipathies will cease, and property be placed on 
the permanent basis of national interest and protection. 



34 2 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

I have no property in France to become subject to the plan 
I propose. What I have, which is not much, is in the United 
States of America. But I will pay one hundred pounds 
sterling towards this fund in France, the instant it shall be 
established ; and I will pay the same sum in England, when- 
ever a similar establishment shall take place in that country. 

A revolution in the state of civilization is the necessary 
companion of revolutions in the system of government. If 
a revolution in any country be from bad to good, or from 
good to bad, the state of what is called civilization in that 
country, must be made conformable thereto, to give that 
revolution effect. Despotic government supports itself by 
abject civilization, in which debasement of the human mind, 
and wretchedness in the mass of the people, are the chief 
criterions. Such governments consider man merely as an 
animal ; that the exercise of intellectual faculty is not his 
privilege ; that he has nothing to do with the laws but to obey 
them ; * and they politically depend more upon breaking the 
spirit of the people by poverty, than they fear enraging it 
by desperation. 

It is a revolution in the state of civilization that will give 
perfection to the revolution of France. Already the con- 
viction that government by representation is the true system 
of government is spreading itself fast in the world. The 
reasonableness of it can be seen by all. The justness of it 
makes itself felt even by its opposers. But when a system 
of civilization, growing out of that system of government, 
shall be so organized that not a man or woman born in the 
Republic but shall inherit some means of beginning the 
world, and see before them the certainty of escaping the 
miseries that under other governments accompany old age, 
the revolution of France will have an advocate and an ally 
in the heart of all nations. 

An army of principles will penetrate where an army of 
soldiers cannot ; it will succeed where diplomatic manage- 
ment would fail : it is neither the Rhine, the Channel, nor 

* Expression of Horsley, an English bishop, in the English parliament. — 
A utJior. 






1797] AGRARIAN JUSTICE. 343 

the Ocean that can arrest its progress : it will march on the 
horizon of the world, and it will conquer. 

MEANS FOR CARRYING THE PROPOSED PLAN INTO EXECU- 
TION, AND TO RENDER IT AT THE SAME TIME CONDUCIVE 
TO THE PUBLIC INTEREST. 

I. Each canton shall elect in its primary assemblies, three 
persons, as commissioners for that canton, who shall take 
cognizance, and keep a register of all matters happening in 
that canton, conformable to the charter that shall be estab- 
lished by law for carrying this plan into execution. 

II. The law shall fix the manner in which the property 
of deceased persons shall be ascertained. 

III. When the amount of the property of any deceased 
person shall be ascertained, the principal heir to that prop- 
erty, or the eldest of the co-heirs, if of lawful age, or if under 
age the person authorized by the will of the deceased to 
represent him or them, shall give bond to the commissioners 
of the canton to pay the said tenth part thereof in four 
equal quarterly payments, within the space of one year or 
sooner, at the choice of the payers. One half of the whole 
property shall remain as a security until the bond be paid 
off. 

IV. The bond shall be registered in the orifice of the com- 
missioners of the canton, and the original bonds shall be de- 
posited in the national bank at Paris. The bank shall publish 
every quarter of a year the amount of the bonds in its pos- 
session, and also the bonds that shall have been paid off, or 
what parts thereof, since the last quarterly publication. 

V. The national bank shall issue bank notes upon the 
security of the bonds in its possession. The notes so issued, 
shall be applied to pay the pensions of aged persons, and 
the compensations to persons arriving at twenty-one years 
of age. It is both reasonable and generous to suppose, that 
persons not under immediate necessity, will suspend their 
right of drawing on the fund, until it acquire, as it will do, 
a greater degree of ability. In this case, it is proposed, that 



344 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

an honorary register be kept, in each canton, of the names 
of the persons thus suspending that right, at least during the 
present war. 

VI. As the inheritors of property must always take up 
their bonds in four quarterly payments, or sooner if they 
choose, there will always be numeraire [cash] arriving at the 
bank after the expiration of the first quarter, to exchange 
for the bank notes that shall be brought in. 

VII. The bank notes being thus put in circulation, upon 
the best of all possible security, that of actual property, to 
more than four times the amount of the bonds upon which 
the notes are issued, and with numeraire continually arriving 
at the bank to exchange or pay them off whenever they shall 
be presented for that purpose, they will acquire a permanent 
value in all parts of the Republic. They can therefore be 
received in payment of taxes, or emprunts equal to numfraire, 
because the government can always receive numeraire for 
them at the bank. 

VIII. It will be necessary that the payments of the ten 
per cent, be made in nume'raire for the first year from the 
establishment of the plan. But after the expiration of the 
first year, the inheritors of property may pay ten per cent, 
either in bank notes issued upon the fund, or in numeraire. 
If the payments be in nume'raire, it will lie as a deposit at 
the bank, to be exchanged for a quantity of notes equal to 
that amount ; and if in notes issued upon the fund, it will 
cause a demand upon the fund, equal thereto ; and thus the 
operation of the plan will create means to carry itself into 
execution. 

Thomas Paine. 



-WPj^ 



XXIX. 
THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 

To the People of France and the French Armies} 

WHEN an extraordinary measure, not warranted by estab- 
lished constitutional rules, and justifiable only on the su- 
preme law of absolute necessity, bursts suddenly upon us, 
we must, in order to form a true judgment thereon, carry 
our researches back to the times that preceded and occasioned 
it. Taking up then the subject with respect to the event of 
the Eighteenth of Fructidor on this ground, I go to ex- 
amine the state of things prior to that period. I begin with 
the establishment of the constitution of the year 3 of the 
French Republic. 

A better organized constitution has never yet been de- 
vised by human wisdom. It is, in its organization, free from 
all the vices and defects to which other forms of government 
are more or less subject. I will speak first of the legislative 
body, because the Legislature is, in the natural order of 
things, the first power ; the Executive is the first magistrate. 

By arranging the legislative body into two divisions, as is 
done in the French Constitution, the one, (the Council of 
Five Hundred,) whose part it is to conceive and propose 

1 This pamphlet was written between the defeat of Pichegru's attempt, 
September 4, 1794, and November 12, of the same year, the date of the Bien- 
informt in which the publication is noticed. General Pichegru (Charles), 
(1761-1804) having joined a royalist conspiracy against the Republic, was ban- 
ished to Cayenne (1797), whence he escaped to England ; having returned to 
Paris (1804) ne was imprisoned in the Temple, and there found strangled by 
a silk handkerchief, whether by his own or another's act remaining doubtful. — 
Editor. 



346 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [l797 

laws ; the other, a Council of Ancients, to review, approve, 
or reject the laws proposed ; all the security is given that 
can arise from coolness of reflection acting upon, or correc- 
ting the precipitancy or enthusiasm of conception and imagi- 
nation. It is seldom that our first thought, even upon any 
subject, is sufficiently just. 1 

The policy of renewing the Legislature by a third part 
each year, though not entirely new, either in theory or in 
practice, is nevertheless one of the modern improvements in 
the science of government. It prevents, on the one hand, 
that convulsion and precipitate change of measures into 
which a nation might be surprised by the going out of the 
whole Legislature at the same time, and the instantaneous 
election of a new one ; on the other hand, it excludes that 
common interest from taking place that might tempt a whole 
Legislature, whose term of duration expired at once, to 
usurp the right of continuance. I go now to speak of the 
Executive. 

It is a principle uncontrovertible by reason, that each of 
the parts by which government is composed, should be so 
constructed as to be in perpetual maturity. We should 
laugh at the idea of a Council of Five Hundred, or a Council 
of Ancients, or a Parliament, or any national assembly, who 
should be all children in leading strings and in the cradle, or 
be all sick, insane, deaf, dumb, lame or blind, at the same 
time, or be all upon crutches, tottering with age or infirmi- 
ties. Any form of government that was so constructed as 
to admit the possibility of such cases happening to a whole 
Legislature would justly be the ridicule of the world ; and 
on a parity of reasoning, it is equally as ridiculous that the 
same cases should happen in that part of government which 
is called the Executive ; yet this is the contemptible condi- 
tion to which an Executive is always subject, and which is 
often happening, when it is placed in an hereditary indi- 
vidual called a king. When that individual is in either of 

1 For Paine's ideas on the right division of representatives into two chambers, 
which differ essentially from any bicameral system ever adopted, see vol. ii. , p. 
444 of this work; also, in the present volume, Chapter XXXIV .—Editor. 






1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FR UCTIDOR. 347 

the cases before mentioned, the whole Executive is in the 
same case; for himself is the whole. He is then (as an 
Executive) the ridiculous picture of what a Legislature 
would be if all its members were in the same case. The one 
is a whole made up of parts, the other a whole without 
parts ; and anything happening to the one, (as a part or sec- 
tion of the government,) is parallel to the same thing hap- 
pening to the other. 

As, therefore, an hereditary executive called a king is a 
perfect absurdity in itself, any attachment to it is equally as 
absurd. It is neither instinct or reason ; and if this attach- 
ment is what is called royalism in France, then is a royalist 
inferior in character to every species of the animal world ; 
for what can that being be who acts neither by instinct nor 
by reason ? Such a being merits rather our derision than our 
pity ; and it is only when it assumes to act its folly that it 
becomes capable of provoking republican indignation. In 
every other case it is too contemptible to excite anger. For 
my own part, when I contemplate the self-evident absurdity 
of the thing, I can scarcely permit myself to believe that there 
exists in the high-minded nation of France such a mean and 
silly animal as a royalist. 

As it requires but a single glance of thought to see (as is 
before said) that all the parts of which government is com- 
posed must be at all times in a state of full maturity, it was 
not possible that men acting under the influence of reason, 
could, in forming a Constitution, admit an hereditary Execu- 
tive, any more than an hereditary Legislature. I go there- 
fore to examine the other cases. 

In the first place, (rejecting the hereditary system,) shall 
the Executive by election be an individual ox a plurality. 

An individual by election is almost as bad as the heredi- 
tary system, except that there is always a better chance of 
not having an idiot. But he will never be any thing more 
than a chief of a party, and none but those of that party 
will have access to him. He will have no person to consult 
with of a standing equal with himself, and consequently be 
deprived of the advantages arising from equal discussion. 



34$ THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

Those whom he admits in consultation will be ministers of 
his own appointment, who, if they displease by their advice, 
must expect to be dismissed. The authority also is too 
great, and the business too complicated, to be intrusted to the 
ambition or the judgment of an individual ; and besides these 
cases, the sudden change of measures that might follow by 
the going out of an individual Executive, and the election 
of a new one, would hold the affairs of a nation in a state of 
perpetual uncertainty. We come then to the case of a plural 
Executive. 

It must be sufficiently plural, to give opportunity to dis- 
cuss all the various subjects that in the course of national 
business may come before it ; and yet not so numerous as 
to endanger the necessary secrecy that certain cases, such as 
those of war, require. 

Establishing, then, plurality as a principle, the only ques- 
tion is, What shall be the number of that plurality ? 

Three are too few either for the variety or the quantity of 
business. The Constitution has adopted five ; and experi- 
ence has shewn, from the commencement of the Constitu- 
tion to the time of the election of the new legislative third, 
that this number of Directors, when well chosen, is sufficient 
for all national executive purposes ; and therefore a greater 
number would be only an unnecessary expence. That the 
measures of the Directory during that period were well con- 
certed is proved by their success ; and their being well con- 
certed shews they were well discussed ; and, therefore, that 
five is a sufficient number with respect to discussion ; and, 
on the other hand, the secret, whenever there was one, (as 
in the case of the expedition to Ireland,) was well kept, and 
therefore the number is not too great to endanger the neces- 
sary secrecy. 

The reason why the two Councils are numerous is not 
from the necessity of their being so, on account of business, 
but because that every part of the republic shall find and 
feel itself in the national representation. 

Next to the general principle of government by repre- 
sentation, the excellence of the French Constitution consists 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 349 

in providing means to prevent that abuse of power that 
might arise by letting it remain too long in the same hands. 
This wise precaution pervades every part of the Constitu- 
tion. Not only the legislature is renewable by a third every 
year, but the president of each of the Councils is renewable 
every month ; and of the Directory, one member each year, 
and its president every three months. Those who formed 
the Constitution cannot be accused of having contrived for 
themselves. The Constitution, in this respect, is as impar- 
tially constructed as if those who framed it were to die as 
soon as they had finished their work. 

The only defect in the Constitution is that of having nar- 
rowed the right of suffrage ; and it is in a great measure due 
to this narrowing the right, that the last elections have not 
generally been good. My former colleagues will, I presume, 
pardon my saying this to day, when they recollect my argu- 
ments against this defect, at the time the Constitution was 
discussed in the Convention. 1 

I will close this part of the subject by remarking on one 
of the most vulgar and absurd sayings or dogmas that ever 
yet imposed itself upon the world, which is, " that a Republic 
is fit only for a small country, and a Monarchy for a large 
one." Ask those who say this their reasons why it is so, and 
they can give none. 

Let us then examine the case. If the quantity of knowl- 
edge in a government ought to be proportioned to the extent 
of a country, and the magnitude and variety of its affairs, it 
follows, as an undeniable result, that this absurd dogma is 
false, and that the reverse of it is true. As to what is called 
Monarchy, if it be adaptable to any country it can only be 
so to a small one, whose concerns are few, little complicated, 
and all within the comprehension of an individual. But 
when we come to a country of large extent, vast population, 
and whose affairs are great, numerous, and various, it is the 
representative republican system only, that can collect into 
the government the quantity of knowledge necessary to 

1 See Chapters XXIV. and XXV., also the letter prefaced to XXVIII., in 
this volume. — Editor. 



350 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

govern to the best national advantage. Montesquieu, who 
was strongly inclined to republican government, sheltered 
himself under this absurd dogma ; for he had always the 
Bastile before his eyes when he was speaking of Republics, 
and therefore pretended not to write for France. Condorcet 
governed himself by the same caution, but it was caution 
only, for no sooner had he the opportunity of speaking fully 
out than he did it. When I say this of Condorcet, I know 
it as a fact. In a paper published in Paris, July, 1791, en- 
titled, " The Republican, or the Defender of Representative 
Government" is a piece signed Thomas Paine. 1 That piece 
was concerted between Condorcet and myself. I wrote the 
original in English, and Condorcet translated it. The object 
of it was to expose the absurdity and falsehood of the above 
mentioned dogma. 

Having thus concisely glanced at the excellencies of the 
Constitution, and the superiority of the representative sys- 
tem of government over every other system, (if any other 
can be called a system,) I come to speak of the circumstances 
that have intervened between the time the Constitution was 
established and the event that took place on the 18th of 
Fructidor of the present year. 

Almost as suddenly as the morning light dissipates dark- 
ness, did the establishment of the Constitution change the 
face of affairs in France. Security succeeded to terror, pros- 
perity to distress, plenty to famine, and confidence increased 
as the days multiplied, until the coming of the new third. 
A series of victories unequalled in the world, followed each 
other, almost too rapidly to be counted, and too numerous 
to be remembered. The Coalition, every where defeated 
and confounded, crumbled away like a ball of dust in the 
hand of a giant. Every thing, during that period, was acted 
on such a mighty scale that reality appeared a dream, and 
truth outstript romance. It may figuratively be said, that 
the Rhine and the Rubicon (Germany and Italy) replied in 
triumphs to each other, and the echoing Alps prolonged the 

1 Chapter II. of this volume. See also my " Life of Paine," vol. i., p. 311. — 
Editor. 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 35 1 

shout. I will not here dishonour a great description by- 
noticing too much the English government. It is sufficient 
to say paradoxically, that in the magnitude of its littleness 
it cringed, it intrigued, and sought protection in corrup- 
tion. 

Though the achievements of these days might give tro- 
phies to a nation and laurels to its heroes, they derive their 
full radiance of glory from the principle they inspired and 
the object they accomplished. Desolation, chains, and 
slavery had marked the progress of former wars, but to con- 
quer for Liberty had never been thought of. To receive 
the degrading submission of a distressed and subjugated 
people, and insultingly permit them to live, made the chief 
triumph of former conquerors ; but to receive them with 
fraternity, to break their chains, to tell them they are free, 
and teach them to be so, make a new volume in the history 
of man. 

Amidst those national honours, and when only two ene- 
mies remained, both of whom had solicited peace, and one 
of them had signed preliminaries, the election of the new 
third commenced. Every thing was made easy to them. 
All difficulties had been conquered before they arrived at 
the government. They came in the olive days of the revo- 
lution, and all they had to do was not to do mischief. 

It was, however, not difficult to foresee, that the elections 
would not be generally good. The horrid days of Robes- 
pierre were still remembered, and the gratitude due to those 
who had put an end to them was forgotten. 

Thousands who, by passive approbation during that tre- 
mendous scene, had experienced no suffering, assumed the 
merit of being the loudest against it. Their cowardice in 
not opposing it, became courage when it was over. They 
exclaimed against Terrorism as if they had been the heroes 
that overthrew it, and rendered themselves ridiculous by 
fantastically overacting moderation. The most noisy of this 
class, that I have met with, are those who suffered nothing. 
They became all things, at all times, to all men ; till at last 
they laughed at principle. It was the real republicans who 



352 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

suffered most during the time of Robespierre. The perse- 
cution began upon them on the 31st of May [1793], and 
ceased only by the exertions of the remnant that survived. 

In such a confused state of things as preceded the late 
elections the public mind was put into a condition of being 
easily deceived ; and it was almost natural that the hypo- 
crite would stand the best chance of being elected into the 
new third. Had those who, since their election, have thrown 
the public affairs into confusion by counter-revolutionary 
measures, declared themselves beforehand, they would have 
been denounced instead of being chosen. Deception was 
necessary to their success. The Constitution obtained a 
full establishment ; the revolution was considered as com- 
plete ; and the war on the eve of termination. In such a 
situation, the mass of the people, fatigued by a long revolu- 
tion, sought repose ; and in their elections they looked out 
for quiet men. They unfortunately found hypocrites. 
Would any of the primary assemblies have voted for a civil 
war ? Certainly they would not. But the electoral assem- 
blies of some departments have chosen men whose measures, 
since their election, tended to no other end but to provoke 
it. Either those electors have deceived their constituents of 
the primary assemblies, or they have been themselves de- 
ceived in the choice they made of deputies. 

That there were some direct but secret conspirators in the 
new third can scarcely admit of a doubt ; but it is most 
reasonable to suppose that a great part were seduced by the 
vanity of thinking they could do better than those whom 
they succeeded. Instead of trusting to experience, they at- 
tempted experiments. This counter-disposition prepared 
them to fall in with any measures contrary to former meas- 
ures, and that without seeing, and probably without suspect- 
ing, the end to which they led. 

No sooner were the members of the new third arrived at 
the seat of government, than expectation was excited to see 
how they would act. Their motions were watched by all 
parties, and it was impossible for them to steal a march un- 
observed. They had it in their power to do great good, or 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FR UCTIDOR. 353 

great mischief. A firm and manly conduct on their part, 
uniting with that of the Directory and their colleagues, 
would have terminated the war. But the moment before 
them was not the moment of hesitation. He that hesitates 
in such situation is lost. 

The first public act of the Council of Five Hundred was 
the election of Pichegru to the presidency of that Council. 
He arrived at it by a very large majority, and the public 
voice was in his favour. I among the rest was one who 
rejoiced at it. But if the defection of Pichegru was at that 
time known to Conde, and consequently to Pitt, it unveils 
the cause that retarded all negotiations for peace. 1 They 
interpreted that election into a signal of a counter-revolu- 
tion, and were waiting for it ; and they mistook the respect 
shown to Pichegru, founded on the supposition of his integ- 
rity, as a symptom of national revolt. Judging of things by 
their own foolish ideas of government, they ascribed appear- 
ances to causes between which there was no connection. 
Every thing on their part has been a comedy of errors, and 
the actors have been chased from the stage. 

Two or three decades of the new sessions passed away 
without any thing very material taking place ; but matters 
soon began to explain themselves. The first thing that 
struck the public mind was, that no more was heard of nego- 
tiations for peace, and that public business stood still. It 
was not the object of the conspirators that there should be 
peace ; but as it was necessary to conceal their object, the 
Constitution was ransacked to find pretences for delays. In 
vain did the Directory explain to them the state of the 
finances and the wants of the army. The committee, 
charged with that business, trifled away its time by a series 
of unproductive reports, and continued to sit only to pro- 
duce more. Every thing necessary to be done was neg- 
lected, and every thing improper was attempted. Pichegru 

1 Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Conde (1736-1818), organized the 
French emigrants on the Rhine into an army which was incorporated with that 
of Austria but paid by England. He converted Pichegru into a secret partisan 
of the Bourbons. He ultimately returned to France with Louis XVIII., who 
made him colonel of infantry and master of the royal household. — Editor, 



354 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i797 

occupied himself about forming a national guard for the 
Councils — the suspicious signal of war, — Camille Jordan 
about priests and bells, and the emigrants, with whom he 
had associated during the two years he was in England. 1 
Willot and Delarue attacked the Directory: their object was 
to displace some one of the directors, to get in another of 
their own. Their motives with respect to the age of Barras 
(who is as old as he wishes to be, and has been a little too 
old for them) were too obvious not to be seen through. 8 

In this suspensive state of things, the public mind, filled 
with apprehensions, became agitated, and without knowing 
what it might be, looked for some extraordinary event. It 
saw, for it could not avoid seeing, that things could not re- 
main long in the state they were in, but it dreaded a convul- 
sion. That spirit of triflingness which it had indulged too 
freely when in a state of security, and which it is probable 
the new agents had interpreted into indifference about the 
success of the Republic, assumed a serious aspect that 
afforded to conspiracy no hope of aid ; but still it went on. 
It plunged itself into new measures with the same ill 
success, and the further it went the further the public mind 
retired. The conspiracy saw nothing around it to give it 
encouragement. 

The obstinacy, however, with which it persevered in its 
repeated attacks upon the Directory, in framing laws in 
favour of emigrants and refractory priests, and in every 
thing inconsistent with the immediate safety of the Republic, 
and which served to encourage the enemy to prolong the 
war, admitted of no other direct interpretation than that 
something was rotten in the Council of Five Hundred. The 
evidence of circumstances became every day too visible not 
to be seen, and too strong to be explained away. Even 
as errors, (to say no worse of them,) they are not entitled 
to apology ; for where knowledge is a duty, ignorance is a 
crime. 

1 Paine's pamphlet, addressed to Jordan, deals mainly with religious matters, 
and is reserved for our fourth volume. — Editor. 

9 Paul Francois Jean Nicolas Barras (175 5-1 829) was President of the Di- 
rectory at this time, 1797. — Editor. 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 355 

The more serious republicans, who had better opportuni- 
ties than the generality had, of knowing the state of politics, 
began to take the alarm, and formed themselves into a So- 
ciety, by the name of the Constitutional Club. It is the 
only Society of which I have been a member in France ; and 
I went to this because it was become necessary that the 
friends of the Republic should rally round the standard of 
the constitution. I met there several of the original patriots 
of the revolution ; I do not mean of the last order of 
Jacobins, but of the first of that name. The faction in the 
Council of Five Hundred, who, finding no counsel from the 
public, began to be frightened at appearances, fortified 
itself against the dread of this Society, by passing a law to 
dissolve it. The constitutionality of the law was at least 
doubtful : but the Society, that it might not give the exam- 
ple of exasperating matters already too much inflamed, 
suspended its meetings. 

A matter, however, of much greater moment soon after 
presented itself. It was the march of four regiments, some 
of whom, in the line of their route, had to pass within about 
twelve leagues of Paris, which is the boundary the Constitu- 
tion had fixed as the distance of any armed force from the 
legislative body. In another state of things, such a circum- 
stance would not have been noticed. But conspiracy is 
quick of suspicion, and the fear which the faction in the 
Council of Five Hundred manifested upon this occasion 
could not have suggested itself to innocent men ; neither 
would innocent men have expostulated with the Directory 
upon the case, in the manner these men did. The question 
they urged went to extort from the Directory, and to make 
known to the enemy, what the destination of the troops 
was. The leaders of the faction conceived that the troops 
were marching against them ; and the conduct they adopted 
in consequence of it was sufficient to justify the measure, 
even if it had been so. From what other motive than the 
consciousness of their own designs could they have fear ? 
The troops, in every instance, had been the gallant defenders 
of the Republic, and the openly declared friends of the Con- 



356 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

stitution ; the Directory had been the same, and if the faction 
were not of a different description neither fear nor suspicion 
could have had place among them. 

All those manceuvres in the Council were acted under 
the most professional attachment to the Constitution ; and 
this as necessarily served to enfeeble their projects. It is 
exceedingly difficult, and next to impossible, to conduct a 
conspiracy, and still more so to give it success, in a popular 
government. The disguised and feigned pretences which 
men in such cases are obliged to act in the face of the public, 
suppress the action of the faculties, and give even to natural 
courage the features of timidity. They are not half the 
men they would be where no disguise is necessary. It is 
impossible to be a hypocrite and to be brave at the same 
instant. 

The faction, by the imprudence of its measures, upon the 
march of the troops, and upon the declarations of the offi- 
cers and soldiers to support the Republic and the Constitu- 
tion against all open or concealed attempts to overturn 
them, had gotten itself involved with the army, and in effect 
declared itself a party against it. On the one hand, laws 
were proposed to admit emigrants and refractory priests as 
free citizens ; and on the other hand to exclude the troops 
from Paris, and to punish the soldiers who had declared to 
support the Republic. In the mean time all negociations 
for peace went backward ; and the enemy, still recruiting 
its forces, rested to take advantage of circumstances. Ex- 
cepting the absence of hostilities, it was a state worse than war. 

If all this was not a conspiracy, it had at least the features 
of one, and was pregnant with the same mischiefs. The 
eyes of the faction could not avoid being open to the dan- 
gers to which it obstinately exposed the Republic ; yet still 
it persisted. During this scene, the journals devoted to the 
faction were repeatedly announcing the near approach of 
peace with Austria and with England, and often asserting 
that it was concluded. This falsehood could be intended for 
no other purpose than to keep the eyes of the people shut 
against the dangers to which they were exposed. 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 357 

Taking all circumstances together, it was impossible that 
such a state of things could continue long ; and at length it 
was resolved to bring it to an issue. There is good reason 
to believe that the affair of the 18th Fructidor (September 
4) was intended to have taken place two days before ; but 
on recollecting that it was the 2d of September, a day mourn- 
ful in the annals of the revolution, it was postponed. When 
the issue arrived, the faction found to its cost it had no party 
among the public. It had sought its own disasters, and was 
left to suffer the consequences. Foreign enemies, as well as 
those of the interior, if any such there be, ought to see in 
the event of this day that all expectation of aid from any 
part of the public in support of a counter revolution is de- 
lusion. In a state of security the thoughtless, who trembled 
at terror, may laugh at principles of Liberty (for they have 
laughed) but it is one thing to indulge a foolish laugh, quite 
another thing to surrender Liberty. 

Considering the event of the 18th Fructidor in a political 
light, it is one of those that are justifiable only on the su- 
preme law of absolute necessity, and it is the necessity ab- 
stracted from the event that is to be deplored. The event 
itself is matter of joy. Whether the manoeuvres in the 
Council of Five Hundred were the conspiracy of a few, aided 
by the perverseness of many, or whether it had a deeper 
root, the dangers were the same. It was impossible to go 
on. Every thing was at stake, and all national business at a 
stand. The case reduced itself to a simple alternative — 
shall the Republic be destroyed by the darksome manoeuvres 
of a faction, or shall it be preserved by an exceptional act? 

During the American Revolution, and that after the State 
constitutions were established, particular cases arose that 
rendered it necessary to act in a manner that would have 
been treasonable in a state of peace. At one time Congress 
invested General Washington with dictatorial power. At 
another time the Government of Pennsylvania suspended it- 
self and declared martial law. It was the necessity of the 
times only that made the apology of those extraordinary 
measures. But who was it that produced the necessity of 



358 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i797 

an extraordinary measure in France ? A faction, and that 
in the face of prosperity and success. Its conduct is with- 
out apology ; and it is on the faction only that the excep- 
tional measure has fallen. The public has suffered no 
inconvenience. If there are some men more disposed than 
others not to act severely, I have a right to place myself in 
that class ; the whole of my political life invariably proves 
it ; yet I cannot see, taking all parts of the case together, 
what else, or what better, could have been done, than has 
been done. It was a great stroke, applied in a great crisis, 
that crushed in an instant, and without the loss of a life, all 
the hopes of the enemy, and restored tranquillity to the 
interior. 

The event was ushered in by the discharge of two cannon 
at four in the morning, and was the only noise that was 
heard throughout the day. It naturally excited a move- 
ment among the Parisians to enquire the cause. They soon 
learned it, and the countenance they carried was easy to be 
interpreted. It was that of a people who, for some time 
past, had been oppressed with apprehensions of some direful 
event, and who felt themselves suddenly relieved, by finding 
what it was. Every one went about his business, or followed 
his curiosity in quietude. It resembled the cheerful tran- 
quillity of the day when Louis XVI. absconded in 1791, and 
like that day it served to open the eyes of the nation. 

If we take a review of the various events, as well con- 
spiracies as commotions, that have succeeded each other in 
this revolution, we shall see how the former have wasted 
consumptively away, and the consequences of the latter have 
softened. The 31st May and its consequences were terrible. 
That of the 9th and 10th Thermidor, though glorious for the 
republic, as it overthrew one of the most horrid and cruel 
despotisms that ever raged, was nevertheless marked with 
many circumstances of severe and continued retaliation. 
The commotions of Germinal and Prairial of the year 3, and 
of Vendemaire of the year 4, were many degrees below those 
that preceded them, and affected but a small part of the 
public. This of Pichegru and his associates has been 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 359 

crushed in an instant, without the stain of blood, and with- 
out involving the public in the least inconvenience. 

These events taken in a series, mark the progress of the 
Republic from disorder to stability. The contrary of this 
is the case in all parts of the British dominions. There, 
commotions are on an ascending scale ; every one is higher 
than the former. That of the sailors had nearly been the 
overthrow of the government. But the most potent of all 
is the invisible commotion in the Bank. It works with the 
silence of time, and the certainty of death. Every thing 
happening in France is curable ; but this is beyond the reach 
of nature or invention. 

Leaving the event of the 18th Fructidor to justify itself 
by the necessity that occasioned it, and glorify itself by the 
happiness of its consequences, I come to cast a coup-d'ceil 
on the present state of affairs. 

We have seen by the lingering condition of the negocia- 
tions for peace, that nothing was to be expected from them, 
in the situation that things stood prior to the 18th Fructidor. 
The armies had done wonders, but those wonders were ren- 
dered unproductive by the wretched manoeuvres of a faction. 
New exertions are now necessary to repair the mischiefs 
which that faction has done. The electoral bodies, in some 
Departments, who by an injudicious choice, or a corrupt in- 
fluence, have sent improper deputies to the Legislature, have 
some atonement to make to their country. The evil origi- 
nated with them, and the least they can do is to be among 
the foremost to repair it. 

It is, however, in vain to lament an evil that is past. 
There is neither manhood nor policy in grief ; and it often 
happens that an error in politics, like an error in war, admits 
of being turned to greater advantage than if it had not oc- 
curred. The enemy, encouraged by that error, presumes too 
much, and becomes doubly foiled by the re-action. England, 
unable to conquer, has stooped to corrupt ; and defeated in 
the last, as in the first, she is in a worse condition than be- 
fore. Continually increasing her crimes, she increases the 
measure of her atonement, and multiplies the sacrifices she 



360 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE, [1797 

must make to obtain peace. Nothing but the most obsti- 
nate stupidity could have induced her to let slip the oppor- 
tunity when it was within her reach. In addition to the 
prospect of new expenses, she is now, to use Mr. Pitt's own 
figurative expression against France, not only on the brink, 
but in the gulph of bankruptcy. There is no longer any 
mystery in paper money. Call it assignats, mandats, ex- 
chequer bills, or bank notes, it is still the same. Time has 
solved the problem, and experience has fixed its fate. 1 

The government of that unfortunate country discovers its 
faithlessness so much, that peace on any terms with her is 
scarcely worth obtaining. Of what use is peace with a 
government that will employ that peace for no other pur- 
pose than to repair, as far as it is possible, her shattered 
finances and broken credit, and then go to war again ? Four 
times within the last ten years, from the time the American 
war closed, has the Anglo-germanic government of England 
been meditating fresh war. First with France on account 
of Holland, in 1787; afterwards w T ith Russia; then with 
Spain, on account of Nootka Sound ; and a second time 
against France, to overthrow her revolution. Sometimes 
that government employs Prussia against Austria ; at another 
time Austria against Prussia ; and always one or the other, 
or both against France. Peace with such a government 
is only a treacherous cessation of hostilities. 

The frequency of wars on the part of England, within the 
last century, more than before, must have had some cause that 
did not exist prior to that epoch. It is not difficult to dis- 
cover what that cause is. It is the mischievous compound 
of an Elector of the Germanic body and a King of Eng- 
land ; and which necessarily must, at some day or other, 
become an object of attention to France. That one na- 
tion has not a right to interfere in the internal government 
of another nation, is admitted ; and in this point of view, 
France has no right to dictate to England what its form 
of government shall be. If it choose to have a thing called 
a King, or whether that King shall be a man or an ass, is 

1 See Chapter XXVI. of this volume. — Editor. 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 361 

a matter with which France has no business. But whether 
an Elector of the Germanic body shall be King of England, 
is an external case, with which France and every other na- 
tion, who suffers inconvenience and injury in consequence 
of it, has a right to interfere. 

It is from this mischievous compound of Elector and 
King, that originates a great part of the troubles that vex 
the continent of Europe ; and with respect to England, it 
has been the cause of her immense national debt, the ruin 
of her finances, and the insolvency of her bank. All in- 
trigues on the continent, in which England is a party, or 
becomes involved, are generated by, and act through, the 
medium of this Anglo-germanic compound. It will be neces- 
sary to dissolve it. Let the Elector retire to his Electorate, 
and the world will have peace. 

England herself has given examples of interference in 
matters of this kind, and that in cases where injury was 
only apprehended. She engaged in a long and expensive 
war against France (called the succession war) to prevent 
a grandson of Louis the Fourteenth being king of Spain ; 
because, said she, it will be injurious to me ; and she has 
been fighting and intriguing against what was called the 
family-compact ever since. In 1787 she threatened France 
with war to prevent a connection between France and Hol- 
land ; and in all her propositions of peace to-day she is 
dictating separations. But if she look at the Anglo-ger- 
manic compact at home, called the Hanover succession, she 
cannot avoid seeing that France necessarily must, some day 
or other, take up that subject, and make the return of the 
Elector to his Electorate one of the conditions of peace. 
There will be no lasting peace between the two countries 
till this be done, and the sooner it be done the better will it 
be for both. 

I have not been in any company where this matter nas 
been a topic, that did not see it in the light it is here stated. 
Even Barthelemy, 1 when he first came to the Directory (and 

1 Marquis de Barthelemy (Francois) (1 750-1 830) entered the Directory in 
June, 1796, through royalist influence. He shared Pichegru's banishment, and 
subsequently became an agent of Louis XVIII. — Editor, 



362 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i797 

Barthelemy was never famous for patriotism) acknowledged 
in my hearing, and in company with Derch£, Secretary to 
the Legation at Lille, the connection of an Elector of Ger- 
many and a King of England to be injurious to France. I 
do not, however, mention it from a wish to embarrass the 
negociation for peace. The Directory has fixed its ulti- 
matum ; but if that ultimatum be rejected, the obligation 
to adhere to it is discharged, and a new one may be as- 
sumed. So wretchedly has Pitt managed his opportunities, 
that every succeeding negociation has ended in terms more 
against him than the former. If the Directory had bribed 
him, he could not serve his interest better than he does. He 
serves it as Lord North served that of America, which fin- 
ished in the discharge of his master.* 

Thus far I had written when the negociation at Lille be- 
came suspended, in consequence of which I delayed the 
publication, that the ideas suggested in this letter might 
not intrude themselves during the interval. The ultimatum 
offered by the Directory, as the terms of peace, was more 
moderate than the government of England had a right to ex- 
pect. That government, though the provoker of the war, and 
the first that committed hostilities by sending away the am- 
bassador Chauvelin,f had formerly talked of demanding from 
France, indemnification for the past and security for the 

* The father of Pitt, when a member of the House of Commons, exclaiming 
one day, during a former war, against the enormous and ruinous expense of 
German connections, as the offspring of the Hanover succession, and borrow- 
ing a metaphor from the story of Prometheus, cried out : " Thus, like Prome- 
theus, is Britain chained to the barren rock of Hanover, whilst the imperial 
eagle preys upon her vitals." — Author. 

f It was stipulated in the treaty of commerce between France and England, 
concluded at Paris, that the sending away an ambassador by either party, should 
be taken as an act of hostility by the other party. The declaration of war (Feb. 
[1] 1793) by the Convention, of which I was then a member and know well 
the case, was made in exact conformity to this article in the treaty ; for it was 
not a declaration of war against England, but a declaration that the French 
Republic is in war with England ; the first act of hostility having been com- 
mitted by England. The declaration was made immediately on Chauvelin's 
return to France, and in consequence of it. Mr. Pitt should inform himself of 
things better than he does, before he prates so much about them, or of the send- 
ing away of Malmesbury, who was only on a visit of permission. — Author. 






1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 363 

future. France, in her turn, might have retorted, and de- 
manded the same from England ; but she did not. As it 
was England that, in consequence of her bankruptcy, solicited 
peace, France offered it to her on the simple condition of 
her restoring the islands she had taken. The ultimatum has 
been rejected, and the negociation broken off. The spirited 
part of France will say, tant mieux, so much the better. 

How the people of England feel on the breaking up of 
the negociation, which was entirely the act of their own 
Government, is best known to themselves ; but from what I 
know of the two nations, France ought to hold herself per- 
fectly indifferent about a peace with the Government of 
England. Every day adds new strength to France and new 
embarrassments to her enemy. The resources of the one in- 
crease'as those of the other become exhausted. England is 
now reduced to the same system of paper money from which 
France has emerged, and we all know the inevitable fate of 
that system. It is not a victory over a few ships, like that 
on the coast of Holland, that gives the least support or re- 
lief to a paper system. On the news of this victory arriving 
in England, the funds did not rise a farthing. The Govern- 
ment rejoiced, but its creditors were silent. 

It is difficult to find a motive, except in folly and mad- 
ness, for the conduct of the English government. Every 
calculation and prediction of Mr. Pitt has turned out directly 
the contrary ; yet still he predicts. He predicted, with all 
the solemn assurance of a magician, that France would be 
bankrupt in a few months. He was right as to the thing, 
but wrong as to the place, for the bankruptcy happened in 
England whilst the words were yet warm upon his lips. To 
find out what will happen, it is only necessary to know 
what Mr. Pitt predicts. He is a true prophet if taken in the 
reverse. 

Such is the ruinous condition that England is now in, that 
great as the difficulties of war are to the people, the diffi- 
culties that would accompany peace are equally as great to 
the Government. Whilst the war continues, Mr. Pitt has a 
pretence for shutting up the bank. But as that pretence 



364 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

could last no longer than the war lasted, he dreads the peace 
that would expose the absolute bankruptcy of the govern- 
ment, and unveil to a deceived nation the ruinous effect of 
his measures. Peace would be a day of accounts to him, 
and he shuns it as an insolvent debtor shuns a meeting of 
his creditors. War furnishes him with many pretences ; 
peace would furnish him with none, and he stands alarmed at 
its consequences. His conduct in the negociation at Lille 
can be easily interpreted. It is not for the sake of the 
nation that he asks to retain some of the taken islands ; for 
what are islands to a nation that has already too many for 
her own good, or what are they in comparison to the expense 
of another campaign in the present depreciating state of the 
English funds? (And even then those islands must be re-, 
stored.) No, it is not for the sake of the nation that he asks. 
It is for the sake of himself. It is as if he said to France, 
Give me some pretence, cover me from disgrace when my 
day of reckoning comes ! 

Any person acquainted with the English Government 
knows that every Minister has some dread of what is called 
in England the winding up of accounts at the end of a war ; 
that is, the final settlement of all expenses incurred by the 
war ; and no Minister had ever so great cause of dread as 
Mr. Pitt. A burnt child dreads the fire, and Pitt has had 
some experience upon this case. The winding up of accounts 
at the end of the American war was so great, that, though 
he was not the cause of it, and came into the Ministry with 
great popularity, he lost it all by undertaking, what was im- 
possible for him to avoid, the voluminous business of the 
winding up. If such was the case in settling the accounts of 
his predecessor, how much more has he to apprehend when 
the accounts to be settled are his own ? All men in bad cir- 
cumstances hate the settlement of accounts, and Pitt, as a 
Minister, is of that description. 

But let us take a view of things on a larger ground than 
the case of a Minister. It will then be found, that England, 
on a comparison of strength with France, when both nations 
are disposed to exert their utmost, has no possible chance 



1797] THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 365 

of success. The efforts that England made within the last 
century were not generated on the ground of natural ability \ 
but of artificial anticipations. She ran posterity into debt, 
and swallowed up in one generation the resources of several 
generations yet to come, till the project can be pursued no 
longer. It is otherwise in France. The vastness of her ter- 
ritory and her population render the burden easy that would 
make a bankrupt of a country like England. 

It is not the weight of a thing, but the numbers who are 
to bear that weight, that makes it feel light or heavy to the 
shoulders of those who bear it. A land-tax of half as much 
in the pound as the land-tax is in England, will raise nearly 
four times as much revenue in France as is raised in Eng- 
land. This is a scale easily understood, by which all the 
other sections of productive revenue can be measured. Judge 
then of the difference of natural ability. 

England is strong in a navy ; but that navy costs about 
eight millions sterling a-year, and is one of the causes that 
has hastened her bankruptcy. The history of navy bills 
sufficiently proves this. But strong as England is in this 
case, the fate of navies must finally be decided by the 
natural ability of each country to carry its navy to the 
greatest extent ; and France is able to support a navy twice 
as large as that of England, with less than half the expense 
per head on the people, which the present navy of England 
costs. 

We all know that a navy cannot be raised as expeditiously 
as an army. But as the average duration of a navy, taking 
the decay of time, storms, and all circumstances and acci- 
dents together, is less than twenty years, every navy must 
be renewed within that time ; and France at the end of a few 
years, can create and support a navy of double the extent 
of that of England ; and the conduct of the English gov- 
ernment will provoke her to it. 

But of what use are navies otherwise than to make or pre- 
vent invasions ? Commercially considered, they are losses. 
They scarcely give any protection to the commerce of the 
countries which have them, compared with the expense of 



366 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [i797 

maintaining them, and they insult the commerce of the 
nations that are neutral. 

During the American war, the plan of the armed neutrality 
was formed and put in execution : but it was inconvenient, 
expensive, and ineffectual. This being the case, the problem 
is, does not commerce contain within itself, the means of its 
own protection? It certainly does, if the neutral nations 
will employ that means properly. 

Instead then of an armed neutrality, the plan should be 
directly the contrary. It should be an unarmed neutrality. 
In the first place, the rights of neutral nations are easily de- 
fined. They are such as are exercised by nations in their 
intercourse with each other in time of peace, and which 
ought not, and cannot of right, be interrupted in conse- 
quence of war breaking out between any two or more of 
them. 

Taking this as a principle, the next thing is to give it ef- 
fect. The plan of the armed neutrality was to effect it by 
threatening war ; but an unarmed neutrality can effect it by 
much easier and more powerful means. 

Were the neutral nations to associate, under an honoura- 
ble injunction of fidelity to each other, and publicly declare 
to the world, that if any belligerent power shall seize or mo- 
lest any ship or vessel belonging to the citizens or subjects 
of any of the powers composing that Association, that the 
whole Association will shut its ports against the flag of the 
offending nation, and will not permit any goods, wares, or 
merchandise, produced or manufactured in the off ending na- 
tion, or appertaining thereto, to be imported into any of the 
ports included in the Association, until reparation be made 
to the injured party, — the reparation to be three times the 
value of the vessel and cargo, — and moreover that all remit- 
tances on money, goods, and bills of exchange, do cease to 
be made to the offending nation, until the said reparation be 
made : were the neutral nations only to do this, which it is 
their direct interest to do, England, as a nation depending 
on the commerce of neutral nations in time of war, dare not 
molest them, and France would not. But whilst, from the 



1797] 



THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR. 



3fy 



want of a common system, they individually permit England 
to do it, because individually they cannot resist it, they put 
France under the necessity of doing the same thing. The 
supreme of all laws, in all cases, is that of self-preservation. 

As the commerce of neutral nations would thus be pro- 
tected by the means that commerce naturally contains within 
itself, all the naval operations of France and England would 
be confined within the circle of acting against each other : 
and in that case it needs no spirit of prophecy to discover 
that France must finally prevail. The sooner this be done, 
the better will it be for both nations, and for all the world. 

Thomas Paine. 1 

1 Paine had already prepared his "Maritime Compact," and devised the 
Rainbow Flag, which was to protect commerce, the substance and history of 
which constitutes his Seventh Letter to the People of the United States, Chap- 
ter XXXIII. of the present volume. He sent the articles of his proposed inter- 
national Association to the Minister of Foreign Relations, Talleyrand, who 
responded with a cordial letter. The articles of "Maritime Compact," trans- 
lated into French by Nicolas Bouneville, were, in 1800, sent to all the Ministers 
of Foreign Affairs in Europe, and to the ambassadors in Paris. — Editor, 




XXX. 

THE RECALL OF MONROE. 1 

Paris, Sept. 27, 1797. 
Editors of the Bien-informJ. 

Citizens : in your 19th number of the complementary 
5th, you gave an analysis of the letters of James Monroe to 
Timothy Pickering. The newspapers of Paris and the de- 
partments have copied this correspondence between the am- 

1 Monroe, like Edmund Randolph and Thomas Paine, was sacrificed to the 
new commercial alliance with Great Britain. The Cabinet of Washington were 
entirely hostile to France, and in their determination to replace Monroe were 
assisted by Gouverneur Morris, still in Europe, who wrote to President Wash- 
ington calumnies against that Minister. In a letter of December 19, 1795, 
Morris tells Washington that he had heard from a trusted informant that Mon- 
roe had said to several Frenchmen that "he had no doubt but that, if they 
would do what was proper here, he and his friends would turn out Washing- 
ton." On July 2, 1796, the Cabinet ministers, Pickering, Wolcott, and Mc- 
Henry, wrote to the President their joint opinion that the interests of the 
United States required Monroe's recall, and slanderously connected him with 
anonymous letters from France written by M. Montflorence. The recall, dated 
August 22, 1796, reached Monroe early in November. It alluded to certain 
"concurring circumstances," which induced his removal, and these "hidden 
causes " (in Paine's phrase) Monroe vainly demanded on his return to America 
early in 1797. The Directory, on notification of Monroe's recall, resolved not 
to recognize his successor, and the only approach to an American Minister in 
Paris for the remainder of the century was Thomas Paine, who was consulted 
by the Foreign Ministers, De la Croix and Talleyrand, and by Napoleon. On 
the approach of C. C. Pinckney, as successor to Monroe, Paine feared that his 
dismissal might entail war, and urged the Minister (De la Croix) to regard 
Pinckney, — nominated in a recess of the Senate, — as in "suspension" until 
confirmed by that body. There might be unofficial "pourparlers " with him. 
This letter (State Archives, Paris, Etats Unis, vol. 46, fol. 425) was considered 
for several days before Pinckney reached Paris (December 5, 1796), but the 
Directory considered that it was not a " dignified " course, and Pinckney was 
ordered to leave French territory, under the existing decree against foreigners 
who had no permit to remain. — Editor. 



1797] THE RECALL OF MONROE. 369 

bassador of the United States and the Secretary of State. 
I notice, however, that a few of them have omitted some 
important facts, whilst indulging in comments of such an ex- 
traordinary nature that it is clear they know neither Mon- 
roe's integrity nor the intrigues of Pitt in this affair. 

The recall of Monroe is connected with circumstances so 
important to the interests of France and the United States, 
that we must be careful not to confound it with the recall of 
an ordinary individual. The Washington faction had af- 
fected to spread it abroad that James Monroe was the cause 
of rupture between the two Republics. This accusation is a 
perfidious and calumnious one ; since the main point in this 
affair is not so much the recall of a worthy, enlightened and 
republican minister, as the ingratitude and clandestine ma- 
neuvering of the government of Washington, who caused the 
misunderstanding by signing a treaty injurious to the French 
Republic. 

James Monroe, in his letters, does not deny the right of 
government to withdraw its confidence from any one of its 
delegates, representatives, or agents. He has hinted, it is 
true, that caprice and temper are not in accordance with the 
spirit of paternal rule, and that whenever a representative 
government punishes or rewards, good faith, integrity and 
justice should replace the good pleasure of Kings. 

In the present case, they have done more than recall an 
agent. Had they confined themselves to depriving him of 
his appointment, James Monroe would have kept silence ; but 
he has been accused of lighting the torch of discord in both 
Republics. The refutation of this absurd and infamous re- 
proach is the chief object of his correspondence. If he did 
not immediately complain of these slanders in his letters of 
the 6th and 8th [July], it is because he wished to use at first 
a certain degree of caution, and, if it were possible, to stifle 
intestine troubles at their birth. He wished to reopen the 
way to peaceful negotiations to be conducted with good faith 
and justice. 

The arguments of the Secretary of State on the rights of 
the supreme administration of the United States are peremp- 

VOL III — 24 



37° THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1797 

tory ; but the observations of Monroe on the hidden causes 
of his recall are touching ; they come from the heart ; they 
are characteristic of an excellent citizen. If he does more 
than complain of his unjust recall as a man of feeling would ; 
if he proudly asks for proofs of a grave accusation, it is after 
he has tried in vain every honest and straightforward means. 
He will not suffer that a government, sold to the enemies of 
freedom, should discharge upon him its shame, its crimes, 
its ingratitude, and all the odium of its unjust dealings. 

Were Monroe to find himself an object of public hatred, 
the Republican party in the United States, that party which 
is the sincere ally of France, would be annihilated, and this 
is the aim of the English government. 

Imagine the triumph of Pitt, if Monroe and the other 
friends of freedom in America, should be unjustly attacked 
in France ! 

Monroe does not lay his cause before the Senate since the 
Senate itself ratified the unconstitutional treaty ; he appeals 
to the house of Representatives, and at the same time lays 
his cause before the upright tribunal of the American 
nation. 




( fm 



XXXI. 
PRIVATE LETTER TO PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 

Paris, October i, 1800. 

Dear Sir, — I wrote to you from Havre by the ship Dub- 
lin Packet in the year 1797. It was then my intention to 
return to America ; but there were so many British frigates 
-cruising in sight of the port, and which after a few days knew 
that I was at Havre waiting to go to America, that I did not 
think it best to trust myself to their discretion, and the more 
so, as I had no confidence in the captain of the Dublin 
Packet (Clay). 1 I mentioned to you in that letter, which I 
believe you received thro* the hands of Colonel [Aaron] 
Burr, that I was glad since you were not President that you 
liad accepted the nomination of Vice President. 

The Commissioners Ellsworth & Co. a have been here 
about eight months, and three more useless mortals never 
came upon public business. Their presence appears to me 
to have been rather an injury than a benefit. They set 
themselves up for a faction as soon as they arrived. I was 
then in Belgia. 3 Upon my return to Paris I learnt they had 
made a point of not returning the visits of Mr. Skipwith and 
Barlow, because, they said, they had not the confidence of 
the executive. Every known republican was treated in the 
same manner. I learned from Mr. Miller of Philadelphia, 

. 1 The packet was indeed searched for Paine by a British cruiser. — Editor. 

2 Oliver Ellsworth (Chief Justice), W. V. Murray, and W. R. Davie, were 
sent by President Adams to France to negotiate a treaty. In this they failed, 
but a convention was signed September 30, 1800, which terminated the treaty 
of 1778, which had become a source of discord, and prepared the way for the 
negotiations of Livingston and Monroe in 1803. — Editor. 

3 Paine had visited his room-mate in Luxembourg prison, Vanhuele, who was 
now Mayor of Bruges. — Editor. 



37 2 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1800 

who had occasion to see them upon business, that they did 
not intend to return my visit, if I made one. This, I sup- 
posed, it was intended I should know, that I might not make 
one. It had the contrary effect. I went to see Mr. Ells- 
worth. I told him, I did not come to see him as a commis- 
sioner, nor to congratulate him upon his mission ; that I 
came to see him because I had formerly known him in Con- 
gress. " I mean not," said I, " to press you with any ques- 
tions, or to engage you in any conversation upon the 
business you are come upon, but I will nevertheless can- 
didly say that I know not what expectations the Govern- 
ment or the people of America may have of your mission, 
or what expectations you may have yourselves, but I believe 
you will find you can do but little. The treaty with Eng- 
land lies at the threshold of all your business. The American 
Government never did two more foolish things than when it 
signed that Treaty and recalled Mr. Monroe, who was the 
only man could do them any service." Mr. Ellsworth put on 
the dull gravity of a Judge, and was silent. I added, " You 
may perhaps make a treaty like that you have made with 
England, which is a surrender of the rights of the American 
flag ; for the principle that neutral ships make neutral prop- 
erty must be general or not at all." I then changed the sub- 
ject, for I had all the talk to myself upon this topic, and 
enquired after Samuel Adams, (I asked nothing about John,) 
Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Monroe, and others of my friends ; and 
the melancholy case of the yellow fever, — of which he gave 
me as circumstantial an account as if he had been summing 
up a case to a Jury. Here my visit ended, and had Mr. 
Ellsworth been as cunning as a statesman, or as wise as a 
Judge, he would have returned my visit that he might 
appear insensible of the intention of mine. 

I now come to the affairs of this country and of Europe. 
You will, I suppose, have heard before this arrives to you, of 
the battle of Marengo in Italy, where the Austrians were 
defeated — of the armistice in consequence thereof, and the 
surrender of Milan, Genoa etc. to the french — of the suc- 
cesses of the french Army in Germany — and the extension 
of the armistice in that quarter — of the preliminaries of 



1800] LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 373 

Peace signed at Paris — of the refusal of the Emperor [of 
Austria] to ratify these preliminaries — of the breaking of the 
armistice by the french Government in consequence of that 
refusal — of the " gallant " expedition of the Emperor to put 
himself at the head of his Army — of his pompous arrival 
there — of his having made his will — of prayers being put in 
all his churches for the preservation of the life of this Hero 
— of General Moreau announcing to him, immediately on 
his arrival at the Army, that hostilities would commence 
the day after the next at sunrise unless he signed the treaty 
or gave security that he would sign within 45 days — of his 
surrendering up three of the principal keys of Germany 
(Ulm, Philipsbourg, and Ingolstadt) as security that he 
would sign them. This is the state things are now in, at 
the time of writing this letter ; but it is proper to add that 
the refusal of the Emperor to sign the preliminaries was 
motived upon a note from the King of England to be ad- 
mitted to the Congress for negociating Peace, which was 
consented to by the french upon the condition of an armis- 
tice at Sea, which England, before knowing of the surren- 
der the Emperor had made, had refused. From all which 
it appears to me, judging from circumstances, that the 
Emperor is now so compleatly in the hands of the french, 
that he has no way of getting out but by a peace. The 
Congress for the peace is to be held at Luneville, a town in 
France. Since the affair of Rastadt the French commis- 
sioners will not trust themselves within the Emperor's 
territory. 

I now come to domestic Affairs. I know not what the 
Commissioners have done, but from a paper I enclose to 
you, which appears to have some authority, it is not much. 
The paper as you will perceive is considerably prior to this 
letter. I know that the Commissioners before this piece 
appeared intended setting off. It is therefore probable that 
what they have done is conformable to what this paper 
mentions, which certainly will not atone for the expence 
their mission has incurred, neither are they, by all the ac- 
counts I hear of them, men fitted for the business. 

But independently of these matters there appears to be 



374 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1800 

a state of circumstances rising, which if it goes on, will ren- 
der all partial treaties unnecessary. In the first place I 
doubt if any peace will be made with England ; and in the 
second place, I should not wonder to see a coalition formed 
against her, to compel her to abandon her insolence on the 
seas. This brings me to speak of the manuscripts I send 
you. 

The piece No. I, without any title, was written in con- 
sequence of a question put to me by Bonaparte. As he 
supposed I knew England and English Politics he sent a 
person to me to ask, that in case of negociating a Peace with 
Austria, whether it would be proper to include England. 
This was when Count St. Julian was in Paris, on the part of 
the Emperor negociating the preliminaries : — which as I have 
before said the Emperor refused to sign on the pretence of 
admitting England. 

The piece No. 2, entitled On the Jacobinism of the Eng- 
lish at sea, was written when the English made their insolent 
and impolitic expedition to Denmark, and is also an auxiliary 
to the politic of No. I. I shewed it to a friend [Bonneville] 
who had it translated into french, and printed in the form 
of a Pamphlet, and distributed gratis among the foreign 
Ministers, and persons in the Government. It was immedi- 
ately copied into several of the french Journals, and into the 
official Paper, the Moniteur. It appeared in this paper one 
day before the last dispatch arrived from Egypt ; which 
agreed perfectly with what I had said respecting Egypt. It 
hit the two cases of Denmark and Egypt in the exact proper 
moment. 

The Piece No. 3, entitled Compact Maritime, is the 
sequel of No. 2, digested in form. It is translating at the 
time I write this letter, and I am to have a meeting with 
the Senator Garat upon the subject. The pieces 2 and 3 go 
off in manuscript to England, by a confidential person, where 
they will be published. 1 

By all the news we get from the North there appears to 

1 The substance of most of these " pieces " are embodied in Paine's Seventh 
Letter to the People of the United States {infra p. 420). — Editor. 



1800] LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 375 

be something meditating against England. It is now given 
for certain that Paul has embargoed all the English vessels 
and English property in Russia till some principle be estab- 
lished for protecting the Rights of neutral Nations, and se- 
curing the liberty of the Seas. The preparations in Denmark 
continue, notwithstanding the convention that she has made 
with England, which leaves the question with respect to the 
right set up by England to stop and search Neutral vessels 
undecided. I send you the paragraphs upon the subject. 

The tumults are great in all parts of England on account 
of the excessive price of corn and bread, which has risen 
since the harvest. I attribute it more to the abundant in- 
crease of paper, and the non-circulation of cash, than to any 
other cause. People in trade can push the paper off as fast 
as they receive it, as they did by continental money in 
America ; but as farmers have not this opportunity, they 
endeavor to secure themselves by going considerably in 
advance. 

I have now given you all the great articles of intelligence, 
for I trouble not myself with little ones, and consequently 
not with the Commissioners, nor any thing they are about, 
nor with John Adams, otherwise than to wish him safe home, 
and a better and wiser man in his place. 

In the present state of circumstances and the prospects 
arising from them, it may be proper for America to consider 
whether it is worth her while to enter into any treaty at this 
moment, or to wait the event of those circumstances which 
if they go on will render partial treaties useless by deranging 
them. But if, in the mean time, she enters into any treaty 
it ought to be with a condition to the following purpose : 
Reserving to herself the right of joining in an Association of 
Nations for the protection of the Rights of Neutral Com- 
merce and the security of the liberty of the Seas. 

The pieces 2, 3, may go to the press. They will make 
a small pamphlet and the printers are welcome to put my 
name to it. (It is best it should be put.) From thence they 
will get into the newspapers. I know that the faction of 
John Adams abuses me pretty heartily. They are welcome. 



376 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1800 

It does not disturb me, and they lose their labour ; and in 
return for it I am doing America more service, as a neutral 
Nation, than their expensive Commissioners can do, and she 
has that service from me for nothing. The piece No. 1 is 
only for your own amusement and that of your friends. 

I come now to speak confidentially to you on a private 
subject. When Mr. Ellsworth and Davie return to America, 
Murray will return to Holland, and in that case there will 
be nobody in Paris but Mr. Skipwith that has been in the 
habit of transacting business with the french Government 
since the revolution began. He is on a good standing with 
them, and if the chance of the day should place you in the 
presidency you cannot do better than appoint him for any 
purpose you may have occasion for in France. He is an 
honest man and will do his country justice, and that with 
civility and good manners to the government he is commis- 
sioned to act with; a faculty which that Northern Bear 
Timothy Pickering wanted, and which the Bear of that Bear, 
John Adams, never possessed. 

I know not much of Mr. Murray, otherwise than of his 
unfriendliness to every American w T ho is not of his faction, 
but I am sure that Joel Barlow is a much fitter man to be in 
Holland than Mr. Murray. It is upon the fitness of the man 
to the place that I speak, for I have not communicated a 
thought upon the subject to Barlow, neither does he know, 
at the time of my writing this (for he is at Havre), that I 
have intention to do it. 

I will now, by way of relief, amuse you with some account 
of the progress of iron bridges. 

{Here follows an account of the building of the iron bridge 
at Sunderland, E?igland, and some correspondence with Mr, 
Milbanke, M. P., which will be given more fully a?id precisely 
in a chapter of vol. IV. (Appendix), on Iron Bridges, and is 
therefore omitted here.~\ 

I have now made two other Models [of bridges]. One is 
pasteboard, five feet span and five inches of height from the 
cords. It is in the opinion of every person who has seen it 
one of the most beautiful objects the eye can behold. I 



1800] LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 377 

then cast a model in metal following the construction of that 
in paste-board and of the same dimensions. The whole was 
executed in my own Chamber. It is far superior in strength, 
elegance, and readiness in execution to the model I made in 
America, and which you saw in Paris. 1 I shall bring those 
models with me when I come home, which will be as soon 
as I can pass the seas in safety from the piratical John Bulls. 
I suppose you have seen, or have heard of the Bishop of 
Landaffs answer to my second part of the Age of Reason. 
As soon as I got a copy of it I began a third part, which 
served also as an answer to the Bishop ; but as soon as the 
clerical society for promoting Christian Knowledge knew of 
my intention to answer the Bishop, they prosecuted, as a So- 
ciety, the printer of the first and second parts, to prevent 
that answer appearing. No other reason than this can be as- 
signed for their prosecuting at the time they did, because 
the first part had been in circulation above three years and 
the second part more than one, and they prosecuted imme- 
diately on knowing that I was taking up their Champion. 
The Bishop's answer, like Mr. Burke's attack on the french 
revolution, served me as a back-ground to bring forward 
other subjects upon, with more advantage than if the back- 
ground was not there. This is the motive that induced me 
to answer him, otherwise I should have gone on without 
taking any notice of him. I have made and am still making 
additions to the manuscript, and shall continue to do so till 
an opportunity arrive for publishing it. 

1 " These models exhibit an extraordinary degree not only of skill, but of taste, 
and are wrought with extreme delicacy entirely by his own hands. The largest 
is nearly four feet in length ; the iron-works, the chains, and every other arti- 
cle belonging to it, were forged and manufactured by himself. It is intended 
as the model of a bridge which is to be constructed across the Delaware, ex- 
tending 480 feet, with only one arch. The other is to be erected over a lesser 
river, whose name I forget, and is likewise a single arch, and of his own work- 
manship, excepting the chains, which, instead of iron, are cut out of paste- 
board by the fair hand of his correspondent, the ' Little Corner of the World' 
(Lady Smyth), whose indefatigable perseverance is extraordinary. He was 
offered ^3000 for these models and refused it." — Yorke's Letters from France. 
These models excited much admiration in Washington and Philadelphia.. They 
remained for a long time in Peale's Museum at Philadelphia, but no trace is left 
of them. — Editor. 



37* 



THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. 



[1800 



If any American frigate should come to france, and the 
direction of it fall to you, I will be glad you would give me 
the opportunity of returning. The abscess under which I 
suffered almost two years is entirely healed of itself, and I 
enjoy exceeding good health. This is the first of October, 
and Mr. Skipwith has just called to tell me the Commis- 
sioners set off for Havre to-morrow. This will go by the 
frigate but not with the knowledge of the Commissioners. 
Remember me with much affection to my friends and accept 
the same to yourself. 

Thomas Paine. 




XXXII. 
PROPOSAL THAT LOUISIANA BE PURCHASED. 1 

(SENT TO THE PRESIDENT, CHRISTMAS DAY, l802.) 

SPAIN has ceded Louisiana to France, and France has 
excluded Americans from New Orleans, and the navigation 
of the Mississippi. The people of the Western Territory- 
have complained of it to their Government, and the Govern- 
ment is of consequence involved and interested in the affair* 
The question then is — What is the best step to be taken ? 

The one is to begin by memorial and remonstrance against 
an infraction of a right. The other is by accommodation, — 
still keeping the right in view, but not making it a ground- 
work. 

Suppose then the Government begin by making a proposal 
to France to re-purchase the cession made to her by Spain, 
of Louisiana, provided it be with the consent of the people 
of Louisiana, or a majority thereof. 

By beginning on this ground any thing can be said without 
carrying the appearance of a threat. The growing power of 
the Western Territory can be stated as a matter of informa- 
tion, and also the impossibility of restraining them from seiz- 
ing upon New Orleans, and the equal impossibility of France 
to prevent it. 

Suppose the proposal attended to, the sum to be given 
comes next on the carpet. This, on the part of America, 

1 Paine, being at Lovell's Hotel, Washington, suggested the purchase of 
Louisiana to Dr. Michael Leib, representative from Pennsylvania, who, being 
pleased with the idea, suggested that he should write it to Jefferson. On the day 
after its reception the President told Paine that ' ' measures were already taken 
in that business." — Editor. 



380 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

will be estimated between the value of the commerce and 
the quantity of revenue that Louisiana will produce. 

The French Treasury is not only empty, but the Govern- 
ment has consumed by anticipation a great part of the next 
year's revenue. A monied proposal will, I believe, be at- 
tended to ; if it should, the claims upon France can be stip- 
ulated as part of the payment, and that sum can be paid here 
to the claimants. 

I congratulate you on The Birthday of the New Sun> 

now called Christmas Day ; and I make you a present of a 
thought on Louisiana. 

T. P. 



■smm 




XXXIII. 

THOMAS PAINE TO THE CITIZENS OF THE 
UNITED STATES, 

And particularly to the Leaders of the Feeder al Faction. 
LETTER I. 1 

After an absence of almost fifteen years, I am again 
returned to the country in whose dangers I bore my share, 
and to whose greatness I contributed my part. 

When I sailed for Europe, in the spring of 1787, it was my 
intention to return to America the next year, and enjoy in 
retirement the esteem of my friends, and the repose I was 
entitled to. I had stood out the storm of one revolution, 
and had no wish to embark in another. But other scenes 
and other circumstances than those of contemplated ease 
were allotted to me. The French revolution was beginning 
to germinate when I arrived in France. The principles of it 
were good, they were copied from America, and the men 
who conducted it were honest. But the fury of faction soon 
extinguished the one, and sent the other to the scaffold. Of 
those who began that revolution, I am almost the only sur- 
vivor, and that through a thousand dangers. I owe this not 
to the prayers of priests, nor to the piety of hypocrites, but 
to the continued protection of Providence. 

But while I beheld with pleasure the dawn of liberty rising 

1 The National Intelligencer, November 15th. The venerable Mr. Gales, so 
long associated with this paper, had been in youth a prosecuted adherent of Paine 
in Sheffield, England. The paper distinguished itself by the kindly welcome it 
gave Paine on his return to America. (See issues of Nov. 3 and 10, 1802.) 
Paine landed at Baltimore, Oct. 30th. — Editor. 



382 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

in Europe, I saw with regret the lustre of it fading in America. 
In less than two years from the time of my departure some 
distant symptoms painfully suggested the idea that the prin- 
ciples of the revolution were expiring on the soil that pro- 
duced them. I received at that time a letter from a female 
literary correspondent, and in my answer to her, I expressed 
my fears on that head. 1 

I now know from the information I obtain upon the spot, 
that the impressions that then distressed me, for I was proud 
of America, were but too well founded. She was turning her 
back on her own glory, and making hasty strides in the retro- 
grade path of oblivion. But a spark from the altar of Seventy- 
six, unextinguished and unextinguishable through the long 
night of error, is again lighting up, in every part of the 
Union, the genuine name of rational liberty. 

As the French revolution advanced, it fixed the attention 
of the world, and drew from the pensioned pen 2 of Edmund 
Burke a furious attack. This brought me once more on the 
public theatre of politics, and occasioned the pamphlet Rights 
of Man. It had the greatest run of any work ever published 
in the English language. The number of copies circulated 
in England, Scotland, and Ireland, besides translations into 
foreign languages, was between four and five hundred thou- 
sand. The principles of that work were the same as those in 
Common Sense, and the effects would have been the same in 
England as that had produced in America, could the vote of 
the nation been quietly taken, or had equal opportunities of 
consulting or acting existed. The only difference between 
the two works was, that the one was adapted to the local 
circumstances of England, and the other to those of America. 
As to myself, I acted in both cases alike ; I relinquished to 
the people of England, as I had done to those of America, 
all profits from the work. My reward existed in the ambition 
to do good, and the independent happiness of my own mind. 

1 Paine here quotes a passage from his letter to Mrs. Few, already given in the 
Memorial to Monroe (XXI.). The entire letter to Mrs. Few will be printed in 
the Appendix to Vol. IV. of this work. — Editor. 

2 See editorial note p. 95 in this volume. — Editor. 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 383 

But a faction, acting in disguise, was rising in America ; 
they had lost sight of first principles. They were beginning 
to contemplate government as a profitable monopoly, and 
the people as hereditary property. It is, therefore, no won- 
der that the Rights of Man was attacked by that faction, 
and its author continually abused. But let them go on; 
give them rope enough and they will put an end to their 
own insignificance. There is too much common sense and 
independence in America to be long the dupe of any faction, 
foreign or domestic. 

But, in the midst of the freedom we enjoy, the licentious- 
ness of the papers called Federal, (and I know not why they 
are called so, for they are in their principles anti-federal and 
despotic,) is a dishonour to the character of the country, and 
an injury to its reputation and importance abroad. They 
represent the whole people of America as destitute of public 
principle and private manners. As to any injury they can 
do at home to those whom they abuse, or service they can 
render to those who employ them, it is to be set down to 
the account of noisy nothingness. It is on themselves the 
disgrace recoils, for the reflection easily presents itself to 
every thinking mind, that those who abuse liberty when they 
possess it would abuse power could they obtain it ; and, there- 
fore, they may as well take as a general motto, for all such 
papers, We and our patrons are not fit to be trusted with 
power. 

There is in America, more than in any other country, a 
large body of people who attend quietly to their farms, or 
follow their several occupations ; who pay no regard to the 
clamours of anonymous scribblers, who think for themselves, 
and judge of government, not by the fury of newspaper 
writers, but by the prudent frugality of its measures, and the 
encouragement it gives to the improvement and prosperity 
of the country ; and who, acting on their own judgment, 
never come forward in an election but on some important 
occasion. When this body moves, all the little barkings of 
scribbling and witless curs pass for nothing. To say to this in- 
dependent description of men, " You must turn out such and 



3&4 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

such persons at the next election, for they have taken off a 
great many taxes, and lessened the expenses of government, 
they have dismissed my son, or my brother, or myself, from 
a lucrative office, in which there was nothing to do " — is to 
show the cloven foot of faction, and preach the language of 
ill-disguised mortification. In every part of the Union, this 
faction is in the agonies of death, and in proportion as its 
fate approaches, gnashes its teeth and struggles. My arrival 
has struck it as with an hydrophobia, it is like the sight of 
water to canine madness. 

As this letter is intended to announce my arrival to my 
friends, and to my enemies if I have any, for I ought to 
have none in America, and as introductory to others that 
will occasionally follow, I shall close it by detailing the line 
of conduct I shall pursue. 

I have no occasion to ask, and do not intend to accept, any 
place or office in the government. 1 There is none it could 
give me that would be any ways equal to the profits I could 
make as an author, for I have an established fame in the 
literary world, could I reconcile it to my principles to make 
money by my politics or religion. I must be in every thing 
what I have ever been, a disinterested volunteer ; my proper 
sphere of action is on the common floor of citizenship, and 
to honest men I give my hand and my heart freely. 

I have some manuscript works to publish, of which I shall 
give proper notice, and some mechanical affairs to bring for- 
ward, that will employ all my leisure time. I shall continue 
these letters as I see occasion, and as to the low party prints 
that choose to abuse me, they are welcome ; I shall not de- 
scend to answer them. I have been too much used to such 
common stuff to take any notice of it. The government of 
England honoured me with a thousand martyrdoms, by 
burning me in effigy in every town in that country, and their 
hirelings in America may do the same. 
City of Washington. THOMAS PAINE. 

1 The President (Jefferson) being an intimate friend of Paine, and suspected, 
despite his reticence, of sympathizing with Paine's religious views, was included 
in the denunciations of Paine ("The Two Toms" they were called), and 
Paine here goes out of his way to soften matters for Jefferson. — Editor. 






1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 385 

LETTER II." 

As the affairs of the country to which I am returned are 
of more importance to the world, and to me, than of that I 
have lately left, (for it is through the new world the old must 
be regenerated, if regenerated at all,) I shall not take up the 
time of the reader with an account of scenes that have passed 
in France, many of which are painful to remember and horrid 
to relate, but come at once to the circumstances in which I 
find America on my arrival. 

Fourteen years, and something more, have produced a 
change, at least among a part of the people, and I ask my- 
self what it is ? I meet or hear of thousands of my former 
connexions, who are men of the same principles and friend- 
ships as when I left them. But a non-descript race, and of 
equivocal generation, assuming the name of Federalist, — a 
name that describes no character of principle good or bad, 
and may equally be applied to either, — has since started up 
with the rapidity of a mushroom, and like a mushroom is 
withering on its rootless stalk. Are those men federalized 
to support the liberties of their country or to overturn them ? 
To add to its fair fame or riot on its spoils ? The name con- 
tains no defined idea. It is like John Adams's definition of 
a Republic, in his letter to Mr. Wythe of Virginia. 2 It is, 
says he, an empire of laws and not of men. But as laws may 
be bad as well as good, an empire of laws may be the best 
of all governments or the worst of all tyrannies. But John 
Adams is a man of paradoxical heresies, and consequently 
of a bewildered mind. He wrote a book entitled, "A De- 
fence of the American Constitutions" and the principles of it 
are an attack upon them. But the book is descended to the 
tomb of forgetfulness, and the best fortune that can attend 
its author is quietly to follow its fate. John was not born 
for immortality. But, to return to Federalism. 

In the history of parties and the names they assume, it 
often happens that they finish by the direct contrary prin- 

1 National Intelligencer, Nov. 22d, 1802. — Editor. 

2 Chancellor Wythe, 172 8-1 806. —^'tor. 

VOL III— 25 



386 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

cipies with which they profess to begin, and thus it has 
happened with Federalism. 

During the time of the old Congress, and prior to the 
establishment of the federal government, the continental 
belt was too loosely buckled. The several states were united 
in name but not in fact, and that nominal union had neither 
centre nor circle. The laws of one state frequently inter- 
fered with, and sometimes opposed, those of another. Com- 
merce between state and state was without protection, and 
confidence without a point to rest on. The condition the 
country was then in, was aptly described by Pelatiah Web- 
ster, when he said, " thirteen staves and ne'er a hoop will not 
make a barrel." x 

If, then, by Federalist is to be understood one who was 
for cementing the Union by a general government operating 
equally over all the States, in all matters that embraced the 
common interest, and to which the authority of the States 
severally was not adequate, for no one State can make laws 
to bind another ; if, I say, by a Federalist is meant a person 
of this description, (and this is the origin of the name,) / 
ought to stand first on the list of Federalists, for the proposi- 
tion for establishing a general government over the Union, 
came originally from me in 1783, in a written Memorial to 
Chancellor Livingston, then Secretary for Foreign Affairs to 
Congress, Robert Morris, Minister of Finance, and his asso- 
ciate, Gouverneur Morris, all of whom are now living ; and 
we had a dinner and conference at Robert Morris's on the 
subject. The occasion was as follows : 

Congress had proposed a duty of five per cent, on im- 
ported articles, the money to be applied as a fund towards 
paying the interest of loans to be borrowed in Holland. 
The resolve was sent to the several States to be enacted 
into a law. Rhode Island absolutely refused. I was at the 
trouble of a journey to Rhode Island to reason with them 
on the subject. 8 Some other of the States enacted it with 

1 ' ' Like a stave in a cask well bound with hoops, it [the individual State] 
stands firmer, is not so easily shaken, bent, or broken, as it would be were it set 
up by itself alone." — Pelatiah Webster, 1788. See Paul L. Ford's Pamphlets 
on the Constitution, etc., p. 128. — Editor. 

2 See my " Life of Paine x " vol. i., p. iqs. — Editor. 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 387 

alterations, each one as it pleased. Virginia adopted it, 
and afterwards repealed it, and the affair came to nothing. 

It was then visible, at least to me, that either Congress 
must frame the laws necessary for the Union, and send them 
to the several States to be enregistered without any altera- 
tion, which would in itself appear like usurpation on one 
part and passive obedience on the other, or some method 
must be devised to accomplish the same end by constitu- 
tional principles ; and the proposition I made in the me- 
morial was, to add a continental legislature to Congress, to 
be elected by the several States. The proposition met the full 
approbation of the gentlemen to whom it was addressed, 
and the conversation turned on the manner of bringing it 
forward. Gouverneur Morris, in walking with me after din- 
ner, wished me to throw out the idea in the newspaper ; I 
replied, that I did not like to be always the proposer of new 
things, that it would have too assuming an appearance ; and 
besides, that I did not think the country was quite wrong 
enough to be put right. I remember giving the same reason 
to Dr. Rush, at Philadelphia, and to General Gates, at whose 
quarters I spent a day on my return from Rhode Island; 
and I suppose they will remember it, because the observa- 
tion seemed to strike them. 1 

But the embarrassments increasing, as they necessarily 
must from the want of a better cemented union, the State of 
Virginia proposed holding a commercial convention, and 
that convention, which was not sufficiently numerous, pro- 
posed that another convention, with more extensive and 
better defined powers, should be held at Philadelphia, May 
10, 1787. 

When the plan of the Federal Government, formed by 
this Convention, was proposed and submitted to the consid- 
eration of the several States, it was strongly objected to in 
each of them. But the objections were not on anti-federal 

1 The Letter Books of Robert Morris (16 folio volumes, which should be in our 
national Archives) contain many entries relating to Paine's activity in the public 
service. Under date Aug. 21, 1783, about the time referred to by Paine in this 
letter, Robert Morris mentions a conversation with him on public affairs. I am 
indebted to General Meredith Read, owner of these Morris papers, for permission 
to examine them. — Editor. 



388 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

grounds, but on constitutional points. Many were shocked 
at the idea of placing what is called Executive Power in 
the hands of a single individual. To them it had too much 
the form and appearance of a military government, or a 
despotic one. Others objected that the powers given to a 
president were too great, and that in the hands of an am- 
bitious and designing man it might grow into tyranny, as it 
did in England under Oliver Cromwell, and as it has since 
done in France. A Republic must not only be so in its 
principles, but in its forms. The Executive part of the 
Federal government was made for a man, and those who 
consented, against their judgment, to place Executive Power 
in the hands of a single individual, reposed more on the 
supposed moderation of the person they had in view, than 
on the wisdom of the measure itself. 

Two considerations, however, overcame all objections. 
The one was, the absolute necessity of a Federal Govern- 
ment. The other, the rational reflection, that as govern- 
ment in America is founded on the representative system 
any error in the first essay could be reformed by the same 
quiet and rational process by which the Constitution was 
formed, and that either by the generation then living, or 
by those who were to succeed. If ever America lose sight 
of this principle, she will no longer be the land of liberty. 
The father will become the assassin of the rights of the son, 
and his descendants be a race of slaves. 

As many thousands who were minors are grown up to 
manhood since the name of Federalist began, it became 
necessary, for their information, to go back and show the 
origin of the name, which is now no longer what it originally 
was ; but it was the more necessary to do this, in order to 
bring forward, in the open face of day, the apostacy of those 
who first called themselves Federalists. 

To them it served as a cloak for treason, a mask for 
tyranny. Scarcely were they placed in the seat of power 
and office, than Federalism was to be destroyed, and the 
representative system of government, the pride and glory of 
America, and the palladium of her liberties, was to be over- 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 389 

thrown and abolished. The next generation was not to be 
free. The son was to bend his neck beneath the father's 
foot, and live, deprived of his rights, under hereditary con- 
trol. Among the men of this apostate description, is to be 
ranked the ex-president John Adams. It has been the 
political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed 
with arrogance, and finish in contempt. May such be the 
fate of all such characters. 

I have had doubts of John Adams ever since the year 
1776. In a conversation with me at that time, concerning 
the pamphlet Common Sense, he censured it because it at- 
tacked the English form of government. John was for inde- 
pendence because he expected to be made great by it ; but 
it was not difficult to perceive, for the surliness of his tem- 
per makes him an awkward hypocrite, that his head was as 
full of kings, queens, and knaves, as a pack of cards. But 
John has lost deal. 

When a man has a concealed project in his brain that he 
wants to bring forward, and fears will not succeed, he be- 
gins with it as physicians do by suspected poison, try it first 
on an animal ; if it agree with the stomach of the animal, 
he makes further experiments, and this was the way John 
took. His brain was teeming with projects to overturn the 
liberties of America, and the representative system of gov- 
ernment, and he began by hinting it in little companies. 
The secretary of John Jay, an excellent painter and a poor 
politician, told me, in presence of another American, Daniel 
Parker, that in a company where himself was present, John 
Adams talked of making the government hereditary, and 
that as Mr. Washington had no children, it should be made 
hereditary in the family of Lund Washington. 1 John had 
not impudence enough to propose himself in the first in- 
stance, as the old French Normandy baron did, who offered 
to come over to be king of America, and if Congress did not 
accept his offer, that they would give him thirty thousand 
pounds for the generosity of it s ; but John, like a mole, was 

1 See supra footnote on p. 218. — Editor. 
3 See vol. ii. p. 318 of this work. — Editor. 



390 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

grubbing his way to it under ground. He knew that Lund 
Washington was unknown, for nobody had heard of him, 
and that as the president had no children to succeed him, 
the vice-president had, and if the treason had succeeded, 
and the hint with it, the goldsmith might be sent for to 
take measure of the head of John or of his son for a golden 
wig. In this case, the good people of Boston might have 
for a king the man they have rejected as a delegate. The 
representative system is fatal to ambition. 

Knowing, as I do, the consummate vanity of John Adams, 
and the shallowness of his judgment, I can easily picture to 
myself that when he arrived at the Federal City he was 
strutting in the pomp of his imagination before the presiden- 
tial house, or in the audience hall, and exulting in the 
language of Nebuchadnezzar, " Is not this great Babylon, 
that I have built for the honour of my Majesty ! " But in 
that unfortunate hour, or soon after, John, like Nebuchad- 
nezzar, was driven from among men, and fled with the speed 
of a post-horse. 

Some of John Adams's loyal subjects, I see, have been to 
present him with an address on his birthday ; but the 
language they use is too tame for the occasion. Birthday 
addresses, like birthday odes, should not creep along like 
mildrops down a cabbage leaf, but roll in a torrent of po- 
etical metaphor. I will give them a specimen for the next 
year. Here it is — 

When an Ant, in travelling over the globe, lift up its foot, 
and put it again on the ground, it shakes the earth to its 
centre : but when YOU, the mighty Ant of the East, was 
born, &c. &c. &c, the centre jumped upon the surface. 

This, gentlemen, is the proper style of addresses from 
well-bred ants to the monarch of the ant hills ; and as I never 
take pay for preaching, praying, politics, or poetry, I make 
you a present of it. Some people talk of impeaching John 
Adams ; but I am for softer measures. I would keep him 
to make fun of. He will then answer one of the ends for 
which he was born, and he ought to be thankful that I am 
arrived to take his part. I voted in earnest to save the life 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 39 1 

of one unfortunate king, and I now vote in jest to save 
another. It is my fate to be always plagued with fools. 
But to return to Federalism and apostacy. 

The plan of the leaders of the faction was to overthrow 
the liberties of the new world, and place government on the 
corrupt system of the old. They wanted to hold their 
power by a more lasting tenure than the choice of their con- 
stituents. It is impossible to account for their conduct and 
the measures they adopted on any other ground. But to 
accomplish that object, a standing army and a prodigal reve- 
nue must be raised ; and to obtain these, pretences must be 
invented to deceive. Alarms of dangers that did not exist 
even in imagination, but in the direct spirit of lying, were 
spread abroad. Apostacy stalked through the land in the 
garb of patriotism, and the torch of treason blinded for a 
while the flame of liberty. 

For what purpose could an army of twenty-five thousand 
men be wanted ? A single reflection might have taught the 
most credulous that while the war raged between France 
and England, neither could spare a man to invade America. 
For what purpose, then, could it be wanted ? The case car- 
ries its own explanation. It was wanted for the purpose of 
destroying the representative system, for it could be em- 
ployed for no other. Are these men Federalists ? If they 
are, they are federalized to deceive and to destroy. 

The rage against Dr. Logan's patriotic and voluntary mis- 
sion to France was excited by the shame they felt at the de- 
tection of the false alarms they had circulated. As to the 
opposition given by the remnant of the faction to the repeal 
of the taxes laid on during the former administration, it is 
easily accounted for. The repeal of those taxes was a sen- 
tence of condemnation on those who laid them on, and in 
the opposition they gave in that repeal, they are to be con- 
sidered in the light of criminals standing on their defence, 
and the country has passed judgment upon them. 

Thomas Paine. 

City of Washington, Lovett's Hotel, 
Nov. 19, 1802. 



39 2 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

LETTER III. 1 

To ELECT, and to REJECT, is the prerogative of a free 
people. 

Since the establishment of Independence, no period has 
arrived that so decidedly proves the excellence of the repre- 
sentative system of government, and its superiority over 
every other, as the time we now live in. Had America been 
cursed with John Adams's hereditary Monarchy, or Alexander 
Hamilton's Senate for life, she must have sought, in the 
doubtful contest of civil war, what she now obtains by the 
expression of public will. An appeal to elections decides 
better than an appeal to the sword. 

The Reign of Terror that raged in America during the 
latter end of the Washington administration, and the whole 
of that of Adams, is enveloped in mystery to me. That 
there were men in the government hostile to the representa- 
tive system, was once their boast, though it is now their over- 
throw, and therefore the fact is established against them. 
But that so large a mass of the people should become the 
dupes of those who were loading them with taxes in order 
to load them with chains, and deprive them of the right of 
election, can be ascribed only to that species of wildfire rage, 
lighted up by falsehood, that not only acts without reflection, 
but is too impetuous to make any. 

There is a general and striking difference between the 
genuine effects of truth itself, and the effects of falsehood 
believed to be truth. Truth is naturally benign ; but false- 
hood believed to be truth is always furious. The former 
delights in serenity, is mild and persuasive, and seeks not 
the auxiliary aid of invention. The latter sticks at nothing. 
It has naturally no morals. Every lie is welcome that suits 
its purpose. It is the innate character of the thing to act in 
this manner, and the criterion by which it may be known, 
whether in politics or religion. When any thing is attempted 
to be supported by lying, it is presumptive evidence that the 
thing so supported is a lie also. The stock on which a lie 
can be grafted must be of the same species as the graft. 

1 The National Intelligencer, Bee, 29th, 1802. — Editor. 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 393 

What is become of the mighty clamour of French inva- 
sion, and the cry that our country is in danger, and taxes 
and armies must be raised to defend it ? The danger is fled 
with the faction that created it, and what is worst of all, the 
money is fled too. It is I only that have committed the 
hostility of invasion, and all the artillery of popguns are pre- 
pared for action. Poor fellows, how they foam ! They set 
half their own partisans in laughter ; for among ridiculous 
things nothing is more ridiculous than ridiculous rage. But 
I hope they will not leave off. I shall lose half my greatness 
when they cease to lie. 

So far as respects myself, I have reason to believe, and a 
right to say, that the leaders of the Reign of Terror in 
America and the leaders of the Reign of Terror in France, 
during the time of Robespierre, were in character the same 
sort of men ; or how is it to be accounted for, that I was 
persecuted by both at the same time ? When I was voted 
out of the French Convention, the reason assigned for it 
was, that I was a foreigner. When Robespierre had me 
seized in the night, and imprisoned in the Luxembourg, 
(where I remained eleven months,) he assigned no reason for 
it. But when he proposed bringing me to the tribunal, 
which was like sending me at once to the scaffold, he then 
assigned a reason, and the reason was, for the interests of 
America as well as of France. " Pour les interetsde V Ame- 
rique autant que de la France." The words are in his own 
hand-writing, and reported to the Convention by the com- 
mittee appointed to examine his papers, and are printed in 
their report, with this reflection added to them, " Why 
Thomas Paine more than another ? Because he contributed to 
the liberty of both worlds." 1 

There must have been a coalition in sentiment, if not in 
fact, between the Terrorists of America and the Terrorists 
of France, and Robespierre must have known it, or he could 

1 See my " Life of Paine," vol. ii., pp. 79, 81. Also, the historical introduc- 
tion to XXI., p. 230, of this volume. Robespierre never wrote an idle word. 
This Paine well knew, as Mirabeau, who said of Robespierre : " That man will 
go far ; he believes every word he says." — Editor. 



394 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

not have had the idea of putting America into the bill of ac- 
cusation against me. Yet these men, these Terrorists of the 
new world, who were waiting in the devotion of their hearts 
for the joyful news of my destruction, are the same banditti 
who are now bellowing in all the hacknied language of 
hacknied hypocrisy, about humanity, and piety, and often 
about something they call infidelity, and they finish with the 
chorus of Crucify him, crucify him. I am become so famous 
among them, they cannot eat or drink without me. I serve 
them as a standing dish, and they cannot make up a bill of 
fare if I am not in it. 

But there is one dish, and that the choicest of all, that 
they have not presented on the table, and it is time they 
should. They have not yet accused Providence of hi fidelity. 
Yet according to their outrageous piety, she l must be as 
bad as Thomas Paine ; she has protected him in all his 
dangers, patronized him in all his undertakings, encouraged 
him in all his ways, and rewarded him at last by bringing 
him in safety and in health to the Promised Land. This is 
more than she did by the Jews, the chosen people, that they 
tell us she brought out of the land of Egypt, and out of the 
house of bondage ; for they all died in the wilderness, and 
Moses too. 

I was one of the nine members that composed the first 
Committee of Constitution. Six of them have been de- 
stroyed. Sieyes and myself have survived — he by bending 
with the times, and I by not bending. The other survivor 
joined Robespierre, he was seized and imprisoned in his 
turn, and sentenced to transportation. He has since apol- 
ogized to me for having signed the warrant, by saying he 
felt himself in danger and was obliged to do it. 2 

Herault Sechelles, an acquaintance of Mr. Jefferson, and a 
good patriot, was my suppliant as member of the Committee 
of Constitution, that is, he was to supply my place, if I had 
not accepted or had resigned, being next in number of 

1 Is this a " survival " of the goddess Fortuna ? — Editor. 

2 Barere. His apology to Paine proves that a death-warrant had been issued, 
for Barere did not sign the order for Paine's arrest or imprisonment. — Editor. 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 395 

votes to me. He was imprisoned in the Luxembourg with 
me, was taken to the tribunal and the guillotine, and I, his 
principal, was left. 

There were two foreigners in the Convention, Anarcharsis 
Clootz and myself. We were both put out of the Conven- 
tion by the same vote, arrested by the same order, and car- 
ried to prison together the same night. He was taken to 
the guillotine, and I was again left. Joel Barlow was with 
us when we went to prison. 

Joseph Lebon, one of the vilest characters that ever 
existed, and who made the streets of Arras run with blood, 
was my suppliant, as member of the Convention for the de- 
partment of the Pas de Calais. When I was put out of the 
Convention he came and took my place. When I was lib- 
erated from prison and voted again into the Convention, he 
was sent to the same prison and took my place there, and 
he was sent to the guillotine instead of me. He supplied 
my place all the way through. 

One hundred and sixty-eight persons were taken out of 
the Luxembourg in one night, and a hundred and sixty of 
them guillotined next day, of which I now know I was to 
have been one ; and the manner I escaped that fate is 
curious, and has all the appearance of accident. 

The room in which I was lodged was on the ground floor, 
and one of a long range of rooms under a gallery, and the 
door of it opened outward and flat against the wall ; so that 
when it was open the inside of the door appeared outward, 
and the contrary when it was shut. I had three comrades, 
fellow prisoners with me, Joseph Vanhuele, of Bruges, since 
President of the Municipality of that town, Michael Rubyns, 
and Charles Bastini of Louvain. 

When persons by scores and by hundreds were to be taken 
out of the prison for the guillotine it was always done in the 
night, and those who performed that office had a private 
mark or signal, by which they knew what rooms to go to, 
and what number to take. We, as I have stated, were four, 
and the door of our room was marked, unobserved by us, 
with that number in chalk ; but it happened, if happening is 



396 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

a proper word, that the mark was put on when the door was 
open, and flat against the wall, and thereby came on the in- 
side when we shut it at night, and the destroying angel 
passed by it. 1 A few days after this, Robespierre fell, and 
Mr. Monroe arrived and reclaimed me, and invited me to 
his house. 

During the whole of my imprisonment, prior to the fall of 
Robespierre, there was no time when I could think my life 
worth twenty-four hours, and my mind was made up to 

1 Paine's preface to the " Age of Reason," Part II., and his Letter to Wash- 
ington (p. 222.) show that for some time after his release from prison he had 
attributed his escape from the guillotine to a fever which rendered him uncon- 
scious at the time when his accusation was demanded by Robespierre ; but it will 
be seen (XXXI.) that he subsequently visited his prison room-mate Vanhuele, who 
had become Mayor of Bruges, and he may have learned from him the partic- 
ulars of their marvellous escape. Carlyle having been criticised by John G. 
Alger for crediting this story of the chalk mark, an exhaustive discussion of the 
facts took place in the London Athenceum, July 7, 21, August 25, September 
1, 1894, in which it was conclusively proved, I think, that there is no reason to 
doubt the truth of the incident. See also my article on Paine's escape, in The 
Open Court (Chicago), July 26, 1894. The discussion in the Athenceum elicited 
the fact that a tradition had long existed in the family of Sampson Perry that 
he had shared Paine's cell and been saved by the curious mistake. Such is not 
the fact. Perry, in his book on the French Revolution, and in his " Argus," 
told the story of Paine's escape by his illness, as Paine first told it ; and he also 
relates an anecdote which may find place here : ' ' Mr. Paine speaks gratefully of 
the kindness shown him by his fellow-prisoners of the same chamber during his 
severe malady, and especially of the skilful and voluntary assistance lent him by 
General O'Hara's surgeon. He relates an anecdote of himself which may not 
be unworthy of repeating. An arret of the Committee of Public Welfare had 
given directions to the administrators of the palace [Luxembourg] to enter all 
the prisons with additional guards and dispossess every prisoner of his knives, 
forks, and every other sharp instrument ; and also to take their money from 
them. This happened a short time before Mr. Paine's illness, and as this cere- 
mony was represented to him as an atrocious plunder in the dregs of munici- 
pality, he determined to avert its effect so far as it concerned himself. He had 
an English bank note of some value and gold coin in his pocket, and as he con- 
ceived the visitors would rifle them, as well as his trunks (though they did not 
do so by any one) he took off the lock from his door, and hid the whole of what 
he had about him in its inside. He recovered his health, he found his money, 
but missed about three hundred of his associated prisoners, who had been sent 
in crowds to the murderous tribunal, while he had been insensible of their or 
his own danger." This was probably the money (^200) loaned by Paine to 
General O'Hara (who figured at the Yorktown surrender) in prison. — Editor. 



l8o2] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 397 

meet its fate. The Americans in Paris went in a body to 
the Convention to reclaim me, but without success. There 
was no party among them with respect to me. My only 
hope then rested on the government of America, that it 
would remember me. But the icy heart of ingratitude, in 
whatever man it be placed, has neither feeling nor sense of 
honour. The letter of Mr. Jefferson has served to wipe 
away the reproach, and done justice to the mass of the 
people of America. 1 

When a party was forming, in the latter end of 1777, and 
beginning of 1778, of which John Adams was one, to re- 
move Mr. Washington from the command of the army on 
the complaint that he did nothing, I wrote the fifth number 
of the Crisis, and published it at Lancaster, (Congress then 
being at Yorktown, in Pennsylvania,) to ward off that medi- 
tated blow ; for though I well knew that the black times of 
'76 were the natural consequence of his want of military 
judgment in the choice of positions into which the army was 
put about New York and New Jersey, I could see no pos- 
sible advantage, and nothing but mischief, that could arise 
by distracting the army into parties, which would have been 
the case had the intended motion gone on. 

General [Charles] Lee, who with a sarcastic genius joined 
a great fund of military knowledge, was perfectly right when 
he said " We have no business on islands, and in the bottom of 
bogs, where the enemy, by the aid of its ships, can bring its 
whole force against a part of ours and shut it up." This had 
like to have been the case at New York, and it was the case 
at Fort Washington, and would have been the case at Fort 
Lee if General [Nathaniel] Greene had not moved instantly 
off on the first news of the enemy's approach. I was with 
Greene through the whole of that affair, and know it per- 
fectly. 

But though I came forward in defence of Mr. Washington 
when he was attacked, and made the best that could be 
made of a series of blunders that had nearly ruined the 
country, he left me to perish when I was in prison. But as I 

1 Printed in the seventh of this series of Letters. — Editor. 



39& THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

told him of it in his life-time, I should not now bring it up 
if the ignorant impertinence of some of the Federal papers, 
who are pushing Mr. Washington forward as their stalking 
horse, did not make it necessary. 

That gentleman did not perform his part in the Revolution 
better, nor with more honour, than I did mine, and the one 
part was as necessary as the other. He accepted as a pres- 
ent, (though he was already rich,) a hundred thousand acres 
of land in America, and left me to occupy six foot of earth 
in France. 1 I wish, for his own reputation, he had acted with 
more justice. But it was always known of Mr. Washington, 
by those who best knew him, that he was of such an icy and 
death-like constitution, that he neither loved his friends nor 
hated his enemies. But, be this as it may, I see no reason 
that a difference between Mr. Washington and me should be 
made a theme of discord with other people. There are those 
who may see merit in both, without making themselves parti- 
sans of either, and with this reflection I close the subject. 

As to the hypocritical abuse thrown out by the Federalists 
on other subjects, I recommend to them the observance of 
a commandment that existed before either Christian or Jew 
existed : 

Thou shalt make a covenant with thy senses : 
With thine eye, that it behold no evil, 
"With thine ear, that it hear no evil, 
With thy tongue, that it speak no evil, 
With thy hands, that they commit no evil. 

If the Federalists will follow this commandment, they will 
leave off lying. 

Thomas Paine. 

Federal City, Lovett's Hotel, 
Nov. 26, 1802. 



1 Paine was mistaken, as many others were, about the gifts of Virginia (1785) 
to Washington. They were 100 shares, of $100 each, in the James River Com- 
pany, and 50 shares, of ,£100 each, in the Potomac Company. Washington, 
accepted on condition that he might appropriate them to public uses, which was 
done in his Will. — Editor. 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 399 

LETTER IV. 1 

As Congress is on the point of meeting, the public papers 
will necessarily be occupied with the debates of the ensuing 
session, and as, in consequence of my long absence from 
America, my private affairs require my attendance, (for it is 
necessary I do this, or I could not preserve, as I do, my 
independence,) I shall close my address to the public with 
this letter. 

I congratulate them on the success of the late elections, 
and that with the additional confidence, that while honest 
men are chosen and wise measures pursued, neither the 
treason of apostacy, masked under the name of Federalism, 
of which I have spoken in my second letter, nor the intrigues 
of foreign emissaries, acting in concert with that mask, can 
prevail. 

As to the licentiousness of the papers calling themselves 
Federal, a name that apostacy has taken, it can hurt nobody 
but the party or the persons who support such papers. 
There is naturally a wholesome pride in the public mind that 
revolts at open vulgarity. It feels itself dishonoured even by 
hearing it, as a chaste woman feels dishonour by hearing 
obscenity she cannot avoid. It can smile at wit, or be 
diverted with strokes of satirical humour, but it detests the 
blackguard. The same sense of propriety that governs in 
private companies, governs in public life. If a man in com- 
pany runs his wit upon another, it may draw a smile from 
some persons present, but as soon as he turns a blackguard 
in his language the company gives him up ; and it is the 
same in public life. The event of the late election shows 
this to be true ; for in proportion as those papers have be- 
come more and more vulgar and abusive, the elections have 
gone more and more against the party they support, or that 
supports them. Their predecessor, Porcupine [Cobbett] had 
wit — these scribblers have none. But as soon as his black- 
guardism (for it is the proper name of it) outran his wit, he 
was abandoned by every body but the English Minister who 
protected him. 

1 The National Intelligencer, Dec. 6th. 1802. — Editor, 



400 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

The Spanish proverb says, " there never was a cover large 
enough to hide itself" ; and the proverb applies to the case 
of those papers and the shattered remnant of the faction 
that supports them. The falsehoods they fabricate, and the 
abuse they circulate, is a cover to hide something from being 
seen, but it is not large enough to hide itself. It is as a tub 
thrown out to the whale to prevent its attacking and sinking 
the vessel. They want to draw the attention of the public 
from thinking about, or inquiring into, the measures of the 
late administration, and the reason why so much public 
money was raised and expended ; and so far as a lie today, 
and a new one tomorrow, will answer this purpose, it answers 
theirs. It is nothing to them whether they be believed or 
not, for if the negative purpose be answered the main point 
is answered, to them. 

He that picks your pocket always tries to make you look 
another way. " Look," says he, " at yon man t'other side 
the street — what a nose he has got? — Lord, yonder is a 
chimney on fire ! — Do you see yon man going along in the 
salamander great coat? That is the very man that stole 
one of Jupiter's satellites, and sold it to a countryman for a 
gold watch, and it set his breeches on fire ! " Now the man 
that has his hand in your pocket, does not care a farthing 
whether you believe what he says or not. All his aim is to 
prevent your looking at him ; and this is the case with the 
remnant of the Federal faction. The leaders of it have im- 
posed upon the country, and they want to turn the attention 
of it from the subject. 

In taking up any public matter, I have never made it a 
consideration, and never will, whether it be popular or un- 
popular ; but whether it be right or wrong. The right will 
always become the popular, if it has courage to show itself, 
and the shortest way is always a straight line. I despise 
expedients, they are the gutter-hole of politics, and the sink 
where reputation dies. In the present case, as in every 
other, I cannot be accused of using any ; and I have no 
doubt but thousands will hereafter be ready to say, as 
Gouverneur Morris said to me, after having abused me 
pretty handsomely in Congress for the opposition I gave the 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 401 

fraudulent demand of Silas Deane of two thousand pounds 
sterling: " Well, we were all duped, and I among the 
rest ! " ' 

Were the late administration to be called upon to give 
reasons for the expence it put the country to, it can give 
none. The danger of an invasion was a bubble that served 
as a cover to raise taxes and armies to be employed on some 
other purpose. But if the people of America believed it 
true, the cheerfulness with which they supported those 
measures and paid those taxes is an evidence of their patri- 
otism ; and if they supposed me their enemy, though in that 
supposition they did me injustice, it was not injustice in 
them. He that acts as he believes, though he may act 
wrong, is not conscious of wrong. 

But though there was no danger, no thanks are due to the 
late administration for it. They sought to blow up a flame 
between the two countries ; and so intent were they upon 
this, that they went out of their way to accomplish it. In a 
letter which the Secretary of State, Timothy Pickering, 
wrote to Mr. Skipwith, the American Consul at Paris, he 
broke off from the official subject of his letter, to thank God 
in very exulting language, that the Russians had cut the 
French army to pieces. Mr. Skipwith, after showing me the 
letter, very prudently concealed it. 

It was the injudicious and wicked acrimony of this letter, 
and some other like conduct of the then Secretary of State, 
that occasioned me, in a letter to a friend in the govern- 
ment, to say, that if there was any official business to be 
done in France, till a regular Minister could be appointed, it 
could not be trusted to a more proper person than Mr. Skip- 
with. " He is" said I, " an honest man, and zvill do business, 
and that with good manners to the government he is commis- 
sioned to act with. A faculty which that BEAR, Timothy 
Pickering, wanted, and which the BEAR of that BEAR, John 
Adams, never possessed." 8 

1 See vol. L, chapters xxii., xxiii., xxiv., of this work. Also my " Life of 
Paine," vol. I., ch. ix., x. — Editor. 

2 By reference to the letter itself (p. 376 of this volume) it will be seen that 
Paine here quotes it from memory. — Editor. 



402 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

In another letter to the same friend, in 1797, and which 
was put unsealed under cover to Colonel Burr, I expressed a 
satisfaction that Mr. Jefferson, since he was not president, 
had accepted the vice presidency; "for" said I, "John 
Adams has such a talent for blundering and offending, it will 
be necessary to keep an eye over hint." He has now sufficiently 
proved, that though I have not the spirit of prophecy, I have 
the gift of fudging right. And all the world knows, for it 
cannot help knowing, that to judge rightly and to write 
clearly, and that upon all sorts of subjects, to be able to 
command thought and as it were to play with it at pleasure, 
and be always master of one's temper in writing, is the fac- 
ulty only of a serene mind, and the attribute of a happy and 
philosophical temperament. The scribblers, who know me 
not, and who fill their papers with paragraphs about me, 
besides their want of talents, drink too many slings and 
drams in a morning to have any chance with me. But, 
poor fellows, they must do something for the little pittance 
they get from their employers. This is my apology for 
them. 

My anxiety to get back to America was great for many 
years. It is the country of my heart, and the place of my 
political and literary birth. It was the American revolution 
that made me an author, and forced into action the mind 
that had been dormant, and had no wish for public life, nor 
has it now. By the accounts I received, she appeared to me 
to be going wrong, and that some meditated treason against 
her liberties lurked at the bottom of her government. I 
heard that my friends were oppressed, and I longed to take 
my stand among them, and if other times to try mens 
souls were to arrive, that I might bear my share. But my 
efforts to return were ineffectual. 

As soon as Mr. Monroe had made a good standing with 
the French government, for the conduct of his predecessor 
[Morris] had made his reception as Minister difficult, he 
wanted to send despatches to his own government by a per- 
son to whom he could confide a verbal communication, and he 
fixed his choice on me. He then applied to the Committee 



1802] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 403 

of Public Safety for a passport ; but as I had been voted 
again into the Convention, it was only the Convention that 
could give the passport ; and as an application to them for 
that purpose, would have made my going publicly known, I 
was obliged to sustain the disappointment, and Mr. Monroe 
to lose the opportunity. 1 

When that gentleman left France to return to America, I 
was to have gone with him. It was fortunate I did not. 
The vessel he sailed in was visited by a British frigate, that 
searched every part of it, and down to the hold, for Thomas 
Paine. 2 I then went, the same year, to embark at Havre. 
But several British frigates were cruizing in sight of the port 
who knew I was there, and I had to return again to Paris. 
Seeing myself thus cut off from every opportunity that was 
in my power to command, I wrote to Mr. Jefferson, that, if 
the fate of the election should put him in the chair of the 
presidency, and he should have occasion to send a frigate to 
France, he would give me the opportunity of returning by 
it, which he did. But I declined coming by the Maryland, 
the vessel that was offered me, and waited for the frigate 
that was to bring the new Minister, Mr. Chancellor Living- 
ston, to France. But that frigate was ordered round to the 
Mediterranean ; and as at that time the war was over, and 
the British cruisers called in, I could come any way. I then 
agreed to come with Commodore Barney in a vessel he had 
engaged. It was again fortunate I did not, for the vessel 
sank at sea, and the people were preserved in the boat. 

Had half the number of evils befallen me that the num- 
ber of dangers amount to through which I have been pre- 
served, there are those who would ascribe it to the wrath of 
heaven ; why then do they not ascribe my preservation to 
the protecting favour of heaven ? Even in my worldly con- 
cerns I have been blessed. The little property I left in 
America, and which I cared nothing about, not even to 
receive the rent of it, has been increasing in the value of its 

1 The correspondence is in my " Life of Paine," vol. ii., pp. 154-5. — Editor. 

2 The " Dublin Packet," Captain Clay, in whom Paine, as he wrote to Jef- 
ferson, had " no confidence." — Editor. 



404 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1802 

capital more than eight hundred dollars every year, for the 
fourteen years and more that I have been absent from it. I 
am now in my circumstances independent ; and my economy 
makes me rich. As to my health, it is perfectly good, and 
I leave the world to judge of the stature of my mind. I 
am in every instance a living contradiction to the mortified 
Federalists. 

In my publications, I follow the rule I began with in Com- 
mon Sense, that is, to consult nobody, nor to let any body 
see what I write till it appears publicly. Were I to do other- 
wise, the case would be, that between the timidity of some, 
who are so afraid of doing wrong that they never do right, 
the puny judgment of others, and the despicable craft of 
preferring expedient to right, as if the world was a world of 
babies in leading strings, I should get forward with nothing. 
My path is a right line, as straight and clear to me as a ray 
of light. The boldness (if they will have it to be so) with 
which I speak on any subject, is a compliment to the judg- 
ment of the reader. It is like saying to him, / treat you as 
a man and not as a child. With respect to any worldly ob- 
ject, as it is impossible to discover any in me, therefore what 
I do, and my manner of doing it, ought to be ascribed to a 
good motive. 

In a great affair, where the happiness of man is at stake, 
I love to work for nothing ; and so fully am I under the in- 
fluence of this principle, that I should lose the spirit, the 
pleasure, and the pride of it, were I conscious that I looked 
for reward ; and with this declaration, I take my leave for 
the present. 1 

Thomas Paine. 

Federal City, Lovett's Hotel, 
Dec. 3, 1802. 

1 The self-assertion of this and other letters about this time was really self- 
defence, the invective against him, and the calumnies, being such as can hardly 
be credited by those not familiar with the publications of that time. — Editor. 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 405 

LETTER V. 1 

It is always the interest of a far greater part of the nation 
to have a thing right than to have it wrong ; and therefore, 
in a country whose government is founded on the system of 
election and representation, the fate of every party is decided 
by its principles. 

As this system is the only form and principle of govern- 
ment by which liberty can be preserved, and the only one 
that can embrace all the varieties of a great extent of coun- 
try, it necessarily follows, that to have the representation 
real, the election must be real ; and that where the election 
is a fiction, the representation is a fiction also. Like will 
always produce like. 

A great deal has been said and written concerning the 
conduct of Mr. Burr, during the late contest, in the federal 
legislature, whether Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Burr should be de- 
clared President of the United States. Mr. Burr has been 
accused of intriguing to obtain the Presidency. Whether 
this charge be substantiated or not makes little or no part 
of the purport of this letter. There is a point of much 
higher importance to attend to than any thing that relates 
to the individual Mr. Burr : for the great point is not 
whether Mr. Burr has intrigued, but whether the legisla- 
ture has intrigued with him. 

Mr. Ogden, a relation of one of the senators of New Jer- 
sey of the same name, and of the party assuming the style 
of Federalists, has written a letter published in the New 
York papers, signed with his name, the purport of which is 
to exculpate Mr. Burr from the charges brought against him. 
In this letter he says : 

" When about to return from Washington, two or three mem- 
bers of Congress of the federal party spoke to me of their views, 
as to the election of a president, desiring me to converse with 
Colonel Burr on the subject, and to ascertain whether he would 

1 The National Intelligencer, Feb. 2, 1803. In the various collections of 
these Letters there appears at this point a correspondence between Paine and 
Samuel Adams of Boston, but as it relates to religious matters I reserve it for 
the fourth volume. — Editor. 



406 THE V/RI TINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

enter into terms. On my return to New York I called on Colonel 
Burr, and communicated the above to him. He explicitly de- 
clined the explanation, and did neither propose nor agree to any 
terms." * 

How nearly is human cunning allied to folly ! The ani- 
mals to whom nature has given the faculty we call cunning y 
know always when to use it, and use it wisely ; but when 
man descends to cunning, he blunders and betrays. 

Mr. Ogden's letter is intended to exculpate Mr. Burr from 
the charge of intriguing to obtain the presidency ; and the 
letter that he (Ogden) writes for this purpose is direct evi- 
dence against his party in Congress, that they intrigued with 
Burr to obtain him for President, and employed him (Ogden) 
for the purpose. To save Aaron, he betrays Moses, and then 
turns informer against the Golden Calf. 

It is but of little importance to the world to know if Mr. 
Burr listened to an intriguing proposal, but it is of great im- 
portance to the constituents to know if their representatives 
in Congress made one. The ear can commit no crime, but 
the tongue may ; and therefore the right policy is to drop 
Mr. Burr, as being only the hearer, and direct the whole 
charge against the Federal faction in Congress as the active 
original culprit, or, if the priests will have scripture for it, as 
the serpent that beguiled Eve. 

The plot of the intrigue was to make Mr. Burr President, 
on the private condition of his agreeing to, and entering 
into, terms with them, that is, with the proposers. Had then 
the election been made, the country, knowing nothing of this 
private and illegal transaction, would have supposed, for 
who could have supposed otherwise, that it had a President 
according to the forms, principles, and intention of the con- 
stitution. No such thing. Every form, principle, and inten- 

1 In the presidential canvas of 1800, the votes in the electoral college being 
equally divided between Burr and Jefferson, the election was thrown into the 
House of Representatives. Jefferson was elected on the 36th ballot, but he 
never forgave Burr, and between these two old friends Paine had to write this 
letter under some embarrassment. The last paragraph of this Letter shows 
Paine's desire for a reconciliation between Burr and Jefferson. Aaron Burr is 
one of the traditionally slandered figures of American history. — Editor. 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 407 

tion of the constitution would have been violated ; and 
instead of a President, it would have had a mute, a sort of 
image, hand-bound and tongue-tied, the dupe and slave of a 
party, placed on the theatre of the United States, and acting 
the farce of President. 

It is of little importance, in a constitutional sense, to 
know what the terms to be proposed might be, because any 
terms other than those which the constitution prescribes to 
a President are criminal. Neither do I see how Mr. Burr, or 
any other person put in the same condition, could have 
taken the oath prescribed by the constitution to a President, 
which is, " I do solemnly swear (or affirm,) that I will faith- 
fully execute the office of President of the United States, and 
will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the 
Constitution of the United States." 

How, I ask, could such a person have taken such an oath, 
knowing at the same time that he had entered into the 
Presidency on terms unknown in the Constitution, and pri- 
vate, and which would deprive him of the freedom and 
power of acting as President of the United States, agreeably 
to his constitutional oath ? 

Mr. Burr, by not agreeing to terms, has escaped the dan- 
ger to which they exposed him, and the perjury that would 
have followed, and also the punishment annexed thereto. 
Had he accepted the Presidency on terms unknown in the 
constitution, and private, and had the transaction afterwards 
transpired, (which it most probably would, for roguery is a 
thing difficult to conceal,) it would have produced a sensation 
in the country too violent to be quieted, and too just to be 
resisted ; and in any case the election must have been void. 

But what are we to think of those members of Congress, who 
having taken an oath of the same constitutional import as 
the oath of the President, violate that oath by tampering to 
obtain a President on private conditions. If this is not sedi- 
tion against the constitution and the country, it is difficult 
to define what sedition in a representative can be. 

Say not that this statement of the case is the effect of 
personal or party resentment. No. It is the effect of sincere 



408 THE WRITINGS GF THOMAS PAINE. [1S03 

concern that such corruption, of which this is but a sample, 
should, in the space of a few years, have crept into a country 
that had the fairest opportunity that Providence ever gave, 
within the knowledge of history, of making itself an illustrious 
example to the world. 

What the terms were, or were to be, it is probable we 
never shall know ; or what is more probable, that feigned 
ones, if any, will be given. But from the conduct of the 
party since that time we may conclude, that no taxes would 
have been taken off, that the clamour for war would have 
been kept up, new expences incurred, and taxes and offices 
increased in consequence ; and, among the articles of a 
private nature, that the leaders in this seditious traffic were 
to stipulate with the mock President for lucrative appoint- 
ments for themselves. 

But if these plotters against the Constitution understood 
their business, and they had been plotting long enough to 
be masters of it, a single article would have comprehended 
every thing, which is, That the President (thus made) should be 
governed in all cases whatsoever by a private junto appointed by 
themselves. They could then, through the medium of a 
mock President, have negatived all bills which their party in 
Congress could not have opposed with success, and reduced 
representation to a nullity. 

The country has been imposed upon, and the real culprits 
are but few ; and as it is necessary for the peace, harmony, 
and honour of the Union, to separate the deceiver from the 
deceived, the betrayer from the betrayed, that men who 
once were friends, and that in the worst of times, should 
be friends again, it is necessary, as a beginning, that this 
dark business be brought to full investigation. Ogden's 
letter is direct evidence of the fact of tampering to obtain a 
conditional President. He knows the two or three members 
of Congress that commissioned him, and they know who 
commissioned them. 

Thomas Paine. 

Federal City, Lovett's Hotel, 
Jan. 29th, 1803. 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 409 

LETTER VI. 1 

RELIGION and War is the cry of the Federalists ; Morality 
and Peace the voice of Republicans. The union of Morality 
and Peace is congenial ; but that of Religion and War is a 
paradox, and the solution of it is hypocrisy. 

The leaders of the Federalists have no judgment ; their 
plans no consistency of parts ; and want of consistency is the 
natural consequence of want of principle. 

They exhibit to the world the curious spectacle of an 
Opposition without a cause, and conduct without system. 
Were they, as doctors, to prescribe medicine as they practise 
politics, they would poison their patients with destructive 
compounds. 

There are not two things more opposed to each other than 
War and Religion ; and yet, in the double game those leaders 
have to play, the one is necessarily the theme of their politics, 
and the other the text of their sermons. The week-day 
orator of Mars, and the Sunday preacher of Federal Grace, 
play like gamblers into each other's hands, and this they 
call Religion. 

Though hypocrisy can counterfeit every virtue, and become 
the associate of every vice, it requires a great dexterity of 
craft to give it the power of deceiving. A painted sun may 
glisten, but it cannot warm. For hypocrisy to personate 
virtue successfully it must know and feel what virtue is, and 
as it cannot long do this, it cannot long deceive. When an 
orator foaming for War breathes forth in another sentence 
a plaintive piety of words, he may as well write HYPOCRISY 
on his front. 

The late attempt of the Federal leaders in Congress (for 
they acted without the knowledge of their constituents) to 
plunge the country into War, merits not only reproach but 
indignation. It was madness, conceived in ignorance and 
acted in wickedness. The head and the heart went partners 
in the crime. 

1 The Aurora (Philadelphia).— Editor, 



4IO THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

A neglect of punctuality in the performance of a treaty is 
made a cause of war by the Barbary powers, and of remon- 
strance and explanation by civilized powers. The Mahometans 
of Barbary negociate by the sword — they seize first, and ex- 
postulate afterwards ; and the federal leaders have been 
labouring to barbarize the United States by adopting the 
practice of the Barbary States, and this they call honour. 
Let their honour and their hypocrisy go weep together, for 
both are defeated. Their present Administration is too 
moral for hypocrites, and too economical for public 
spendthrifts. 

A man the least acquainted with diplomatic affairs must 
know that a neglect in punctuality is not one of the legal 
causes of war, unless that neglect be confirmed by a refusal 
to perform ; and even then it depends upon circumstances 
connected with it. The world would be in continual quarrels 
and war, and commerce be annihilated, if Algerine policy was 
the law of nations. And were America, instead of becom- 
ing an example to the old world of good and moral govern- 
ment and civil manners, or, if they like it better, of 
gentlemanly conduct towards other nations, to set up the 
character of ruffian, that of word and blow, and the blow first, 
and thereby give the example of pulling down the little that 
civilization has gained upon barbarism, her Independence, 
instead of being an honour and a blessing, would become a 
curse upon the world and upon herself. 

The conduct of the Barbary powers, though unjust in 
principle, is suited to their prejudices, situation, and circum- 
stances. The crusades of the church to exterminate them 
fixed in their minds the unobliterated belief that every 
Christian power was their mortal enemy. Their religious 
prejudices, therefore, suggest the policy, which their situation 
and circumstances protect them in. As a people, they are 
neither commercial nor agricultural, they neither import nor 
export, have no property floating on the seas, nor ships and 
cargoes in the ports of foreign nations. No retaliation, there- 
fore, can be acted upon them, and they sin secure from 
punishment. 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 41 1 

But this is not the case with the United States. If she 
sins as a Barbary power, she must answer for it as a Civilized 
one. Her commerce is continually passing on the seas ex- 
posed to capture, and her ships and cargoes in foreign ports 
to detention and reprisal. An act of War committed by 
her in the Mississippi would produce a War against the com- 
merce of the Atlantic States, and the latter would have to 
curse the policy that provoked the former. In every point, 
therefore, in which the character and interest of the United 
States be considered, it would ill become her to set an 
example contrary to the policy and custom of Civilized 
powers, and practised only by the Barbary powers, that of 
striking before she expostulates. 

But can any man, calling himself a Legislator, and supposed 
by his constituents to know something of his duty, be so 
ignorant as to imagine that seizing on New Orleans would 
finish the affair or even contribute towards it ? On the con- 
trary it would have made it worse. The treaty right of 
deposite at New Orleans, and the right of the navigation of 
the Mississippi into the Gulph of Mexico, are distant things. 
New Orleans is more than an hundred miles in the country 
from the mouth of the river, and, as a place of deposite, is of 
no value if the mouth of the river be shut, which either France 
or Spain could do, and which our possession of New Orleans 
could neither prevent or remove. New Orleans in our pos- 
session, by an act of hostility, would have become a blockaded 
port, and consequently of no value to the western people as 
a place of deposite. Since, therefore, an interruption had 
arisen to the commerce of the western states, and until the 
matter could be brought to a fair explanation, it was of less 
injury to have the port shut and the river open, than to have 
the river shut and the port in our possession. 

That New Orleans could be taken required no stretch of 
policy to plan, nor spirit of enterprize to effect. It was like 
marching behind a man to knock him down : and the das- 
tardly slyness of such an attack would have stained the fame 
of the United States. Where there is no danger cowards are 
bold, and Captain Bobadils are to be found in the Senate as 



412 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

well as on the stage. Even Gouverneur, on such a march, 
dare have shown a leg. 1 

The people of the western country to whom the Mississippi 
serves as an inland sea to their commerce, must be supposed 
to understand the circumstances of that commerce better 
than a man who is a stranger to it ; and as they have shown 
no approbation of the war-whoop measures of the Federal 
senators, it becomes presumptive evidence they disapprove 
them. This is a new mortification for those war-whoop poli- 
ticians ; for the case is, that finding themselves losing ground 
and withering away in the Atlantic States, they laid hold of 
the affair of New Orleans in the vain hope of rooting and 
reinforcing themselves in the western States ; and they did 
this without perceiving that it was one of those ill judged 
hypocritical expedients in politics, that whether it succeeded 
or failed the event would be the same. Had their motion 
[that of Ross and Morris] succeeded, it would have endan- 
gered the commerce of the Atlantic States and ruined their 
reputation there ; and on the other hand the attempt to make 
a tool of the western people was so badly concealed as to 
extinguish all credit with them. 

But hypocrisy is a vice of sanguine constitution. It flatters 
and promises itself every thing ; and it has yet to learn, with 
respect to moral and political reputation, it is less dangerous 
to offend than to deceive. 

To the measures of administration, supported by the firm- 
ness and integrity of the majority in Congress, the United 
States owe, as far as human means are concerned, the preser- 
vation of peace, and of national honour. The confidence 

1 Gouverneur Morris being now leader of the belligerent faction in Congress, 
Paine could not resist the temptation to allude to a well-known incident (related 
in his Diary and Letters, i., p. 14). A mob in Paris having surrounded his fine 
carriage, crying '* Aristocrat ! " Morris showed his wooden leg, declaring he had 
lost his leg in the cause of American liberty. Morris was never in any fight, his 
leg being lost by a commonplace accident while driving in Philadelphia. Although 
Paine's allusion may appear in bad taste, even with this reference, it was politeness 
itself compared with the brutal abuse which Morris (not content with imprisoning 
Paine in Paris) and his adherents were heaping on the author on his return to 
America ; also on Monroe, whom Jefferson had returned to France to negotiate 
for the purchase of Louisiana. — Editor, 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 413 

which the western people reposed in the government and 
their representatives is rewarded with success. They are 
reinstated in their rights with the least possible loss of time ; 
and their harmony with the people of New Orleans, so neces- 
sary to the prosperity of the United States, which would 
have been broken, and the seeds of discord sown in its place, 
had hostilities been preferred to accommodation, remains 
unimpaired. Have the Federal ministers of the church 
meditated on these matters ? and laying aside, as they ought 
to do, their electioneering and vindictive prayers and sermons, 
returned thanks that peace is preserved, and commerce, with- 
out the stain of blood ? 

In the pleasing contemplation of this state of things the 
mind, by comparison, carries itself back to those days of 
uproar and extravagance that marked the career of the for- 
mer administration, and decides, by the unstudied impulse 
of its own feelings, that something must then have been 
wrong. Why was it, that America, formed for happiness, 
and remote by situation and circumstances from the troubles 
and tumults of the European world, became plunged into its 
vortex and contaminated with its crimes ? The answer is 
easy. Those who were then at the head of affairs were apos- 
tates from the principles of the revolution. Raised to an 
elevation they had not a right to expect, nor judgment to 
conduct, they became like feathers in the air, and blown 
about by every puff of passion or conceit. 

Candour would find some apology for their conduct if want 
of judgment was their only defect. But error and crime, 
though often alike in their features, are distant in their char- 
acters and in their origin. The one has its source in the 
weakness of the head, the other in the hardness of the 
heart, and the coalition of the two, describes the former 
Administration. 1 

Had no injurious consequences arisen from the conduct of 
that Administration, it might have passed for error or imbe- 
cility, and been permitted to die and be forgotten. The 
grave is kind to innocent offence. But even innocence, when 
it is a cause of injury, ought to undergo an enquiry. 

1 That of John Adams. — Ediior. 



4H THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

The country, during the time of the former Administra- 
tion, was kept in continual agitation and alarm ; and that no 
investigation might be made into its conduct, it entrenched 
itself within a magic circle of terror, and called it a SEDITION 
LAW. ! Violent and mysterious in its measures and arrogant 
in its manners, it affected to disdain information, and in- 
sulted the principles that raised it from obscurity. John 
Adams and Timothy Pickering were men whom nothing but 
the accidents of the times rendered visible on the political 
horizon. Elevation turned their heads, and public indig- 
nation hath cast them to the ground. But an inquiry into 
the conduct and measures of that Administration is never- 
theless necessary. 

The country was put to great expense. Loans, taxes, and 
standing armies became the standing order of the day. The 
militia, said Secretary Pickering, are not to be depended 
upon, and fifty thousand men must be raised. For what ? 
No cause to justify such measures has yet appeared. No dis- 
covery of such a cause has yet been made. The pretended 
Sedition Law shut up the sources of investigation, and the 
precipitate flight of John Adams closed the scene. But the 
matter ought not to sleep here. 

It is not to gratify resentment, or encourage it in others, that 
I enter upon this subject. It is not in the power of man to ac- 
cuse me of a persecuting spirit. But some explanation ought 
to be had. The motives and objects respecting the extraor- 
dinary and expensive measures of the former Administra- 
tion ought to be known. The Sedition Law, that shield of 
the moment, prevented it then, and justice demands it now. 
If the public have been imposed upon, it is proper they 
should know it ; for where judgment is to act, or a choice is 
to be made, knowledge is first necessary. The conciliation 
of parties, if it does not grow out of explanation, partakes of 
the character of collusion or indifference. 

1 Passed July 14, 1798, to continue until March 3, 1801. This Act, described 
near the close of this Letter, and one passed June 25th, giving the President 
despotic powers over aliens in the United States, constituted the famous 
" Alien and Sedition Laws. " Hamilton opposed them, and rightly saw in them 
the suicide of the Federal party. — Editor. 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 415 

There has been guilt somewhere ; and it is better to fix 
it where it belongs, and separate the deceiver from the de- 
ceived, than that suspicion, the bane of society, should range 
at large, and sour the public mind. The military measures 
that were proposed and carrying on during the former ad- 
ministration, could not have for their object the defence of 
the country against invasion. This is a case that decides 
itself ; for it is self evident, that while the war raged in 
Europe, neither France nor England could spare a man to 
send to America. The object, therefore, must be something 
at home, and that something was the overthrow of the repre- 
sentative system of government, for it could be nothing else. 
But the plotters got into confusion and became enemies to 
each other. Adams hated and was jealous of Hamilton, 
and Hamilton hated and despised both Adams and Wash- 
ington. 1 Surly Timothy stood aloof, as he did at the affair 
of Lexington, and the part that fell to the public was to pay 
the expense. 3 

But ought a people who, but a few years ago, were fight- 
ing the battles of the world, for liberty had no home but 
here, ought such a people to stand quietly by and see that 
liberty undermined by apostacy and overthrown by intrigue ? 
Let the tombs of the slain recall their recollection, and the 
forethought of what their children are to be revive and fix 
in their hearts the love of liberty. 

If the former administration can justify its conduct, give 
it the opportunity. The manner in which John Adams dis- 
appeared from the government renders an inquiry the more 
necessary. He gave some account of himself, lame and 
confused as it was, to certain eastern wise men who came to 

1 Hamilton's bitter pamphlet against Adams appeared in 1800, but his old 
quarrel with Washington (1781) had apparently healed. Yet, despite the 
favors lavished by Washington on Hamilton, there is no certainty that the 
latter ever changed his unfavorable opinion of the former, as expressed in a 
letter to General Schuylor, Feb. 18, 1781 (Lodge's "Hamilton's Works," vol. 
viii., p. 35). — Editor. 

2 Colonel Pickering's failure, in 1775, to march his Salem troops in time to 
intercept the British retreat from Lexington was attributed to his half-hearted- 
ness in the patriotic cause. — Editor. 



4*6 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

pay homage to him on his birthday. But if he thought it 
necessary to do this, ought he not to have rendered an ac- 
count to the public. They had a right to expect it of him. 
In that tete-a-tete account, he says, " Some measures were 
the effect of imperious necessity, much against my inclina- 
tion. " What measures does Mr. Adams mean, and what is 
the imperious necessity to which he alludes? " Others (says 
he) were measures of the Legislature, which, although ap- 
proved when passed, were never previously proposed or rec- 
ommended by me." What measures, it may be asked, were 
those, for the public have a right to know the conduct of 
their representatives ? " Some (says he) left to my discretion 
were never executed, because no necessity for them, in my 
judgment, ever occurred." 

What does this dark apology, mixed with accusation, 
amount to, but to increase and confirm the suspicion that 
something was wrong? Administration only was possessed 
of foreign official information, and it was only upon that in- 
formation communicated by him publicly or privately, or to 
Congress, that Congress could act ; and it is not in the power 
of Mr. Adams to show, from the condition of the belligerent 
powers, that any imperious necessity called for the warlike 
and expensive measures of his Administration. 

What the correspondence between Administration and 
Rufus King in London, or Quincy Adams in Holland, or 
Berlin, might be, is but little known. The public papers have 
told us that the former became cup-bearer from the London 
underwriters to Captain Truxtun, ' for which, as Minister 
from a neutral nation, he ought to have been censured. It 
is, however, a feature that marks the politics of the Minister, 
and hints at the character of the correspondence. 

I know that it is the opinion of several members of both 
houses of Congress, that an enquiry, with respect to the con- 

1 Thomas Truxtun (175 5-1 822), for having captured the French frigate 
" L'Insurgente," off Hen's Island, 1799, was presented at Lloyd's coffee-house 
with plate to the value of 600 guineas. Rufus King(i755-i827), made Minister 
to England in 1796, continued under Adams, and for two years under Jefferson's 
administration. — Editor. 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS, 417 

duct of the late Administration, ought to be gone into. The 
convulsed state into which the country has been thrown 
will be best settled by a full and fair exposition of the con- 
duct of that Administration, and the causes and object of 
that conduct. To be deceived, or to remain deceived, can be 
the interest of no man who seeks the public good ; and it is 
the deceiver only, or one interested in the deception, that can 
wish to preclude enquiry. 

The suspicion against the late Administration is, that it 
was plotting to overturn the representative system of govern- 
ment, and that it spread alarms of invasions that had no 
foundation, as a pretence for raising and establishing a mili- 
tary force as the means of accomplishing that object. 

The law, called the Sedition Law, enacted, that if any 
person should write or publish, or cause to be written or pub- 
lished, any libel [without defining what a libel is] against the 
Government of the United States, or either house of con- 
gress, or against the President, he should be punished by a 
fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprison- 
ment not exceeding two years. 

But it is a much greater crime for a president to plot 
against a Constitution and the liberties of the people, than 
for an individual to plot against a President; and conse- 
quently, John Adams is accountable to the public for his 
conduct, as the individuals under his administration were to 
the sedition law. 

The object, however, of an enquiry, in this case, is not to 
punish, but to satisfy ; and to shew, by example, to future 
administrations, that an abuse of power and trust, however 
disguised by appearances, or rendered plausible by pretence, 
is one time or other to be accounted for. 

Thomas Paine. 

BORDENTOWN, ON THE DELAWARE, 

New Jersey, March 12, 1803. 

VOL. HI — 27 



418 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

LETTER VII. 
editor's preface. 

THIS letter was printed in The True American, Trenton, 
New Jersey, soon after Paine's return to his old home at 
Bordenton. It is here printed from the original manuscript, 
for which I am indebted to Mr. W. F. Havemeyer of New 
York. Although the Editor has concluded to present Paine's 
" Maritime Compact " in the form he finally gave it, the 
articles were printed in French in 1800, and by S. H. Smith, 
Washington, at the close of the same year. There is an 
interesting history connected with it. John Hall, in his diary 
("Trenton, 20 April, 1787") relates that Paine told him of 
Dr. Franklin, whom he (Paine) had just visited in Phila- 
delphia, " and the Treaty he, the Doctor, made with the late 
King of Prussia by adding an article that, should war ever 
break out, Commerce should be free. The Doctor said he 
showed it to Vergennes, who said it met his idea, and was 
such as he would make even with England." In his Address 
to the People of France, 1797 (see p. 366), Paine closes with 
a suggestion on the subject, and a year later (September 
30, 1798), when events were in a critical condition, he sent 
nine articles of his proposed Pacte Maritime to Talleyrand, 
newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. The letters 
that passed are here taken from the originals (State Archives, 
Paris, Etats Unis, vol. 48). 

" Rue Theatre francaise, No. 4, 9 Vendemaire, 6 year. 
Citizen Minister : I promised you some observations on 
the state of things between France and America. I divide 
the case into two parts. First, with respect to some Method 
that shall effectually put an end to all interruptions of the 
American Commerce. Secondly, with respect to the settle- 
ment for the captures that have been made on that Com- 
merce. 

" As to the first case (the interruption of the American 
Commerce by France) it has foundation in the British Treaty, 
and it is the continuance of that treaty that renders the 
remedy difficult. Besides, the American administration has 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 419 

blundered so much in the business of treaty-making, that it 
is probable it will blunder again in making another with 
France. There is, however, one method left, and there is 
but one that I can see, that will be effectual. It is a non-im- 
portation Convention ; that America agrees not to import from 
any Nation in Europe who shall interrupt her Commerce on 
the seas , any goods, wares, or merchandize whatever, and that 
all her ports shall be shut against the Nation that gives the 
offence. This will draw America out of her difficulties with 
respect to her treaty with England. 

" But it will be far better if this non-importation conven- 
tion were to be a general convention of Nations acting as a 
Whole. It would give a better protection to Neutral Com- 
merce than the armed neutrality could do. I would rather 
be a Neutral Nation under the protection of such a Conven- 
tion, which costs nothing to make it, than be under the pro- 
tection of a navy equal to that of Great Britain. France 
should be the patron of such a Convention and sign it. It 
would be giving both her consent and her protection to the 
Rights of Neutral Nations. If England refuse to sign it 
she will nevertheless be obliged to respect it, or lose all her 
Commerce. 

" I enclose you a plan I drew up about four months ago, 
when there was expectation that Mr. Madison would come 
to France. It has lain by me ever since. 

" The second part, that of settlement for the captures, I 
will make the subject of a future correspondence. Salut 
•et respect." 

Talleyrand's Reply (" Foreign Relations, 15 Vendemaire 
An. 6," Oct. 6, 1797): "I have the honor to return you, 
Citizen, with very sincere thanks, your Letter to General 
Washington which you have had the goodness to show me. 

" I have received the letter which you have taken the 
trouble to write me, the 9th of this month. I need not 
assure you of the appreciation with which I shall receive the 
further indications you promise on the means of terminating 
in a durable manner the differences which must excite your 
interest as a patriot and as a Republican. Animated by 



420 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

such a principle your ideas cannot fail to throw valuable 
light on the discussion you open, and which should have for 
its object to reunite the two Republics in whose alienation 
the enemies of liberty triumph." 

Paine's plan made a good impression in France. He writes 
to Jefferson, October 6, 1800, that the Consul Le Brun, at 
an entertainment given to the American envoys, gave for his 
toast : " A T union de 1' Amerique avec les Puissances du 
Nord pour faire respecter la liberte des mers." 

PAINE'S SEVENTH LETTER. 

The malignant mind, like the jaundiced eye, sees every- 
thing through a false medium of its own creating. The 
light of heaven appears stained with yellow to the distem- 
pered sight of the one, and the fairest actions have the form 
of crimes in the venomed imagination of the other. 

For seven months, both before and after my return to 
America in October last, the apostate papers styling them- 
selves " Federal " were filled with paragraphs and Essays 
respecting a letter from Mr. Jefferson to me at Paris ; and 
though none of them knew the contents of the letter, nor 
the occasion of writing it, malignity taught them to suppose 
it, and the lying tongue of injustice lent them its aid. 

That the public may no longer be imposed upon by Fed- 
eral apostacy, I will now publish the Letter, and the occa- 
sion of its being written. 

The Treaty negociated in England by John Jay, and 
ratified by the Washington Administration, had so disgrace- 
fully surrendered the right and freedom of the American 
flag, that all the Commerce of the United States on the 
Ocean became exposed to capture, and suffered in conse- 
quence of it. The duration of the Treaty was limited to 
two years after the war ; and consequently America could 
not, during that period, relieve herself from the Chains which 
the Treaty had fixed upon her. This being the case, the 
only relief that could come must arise out of something 
originating in Europe, that would, in its consequences, ex- 
tend to America. It had long been my opinion that Com- 



1S03] LETTERS TO AMERICAN- CITIZENS. 42 1 

merce contained within itself the means of its own protec- 
tion ; but as the time for bringing forward any new system 
is not always happening, it is necessary to watch its approach, 
and lay hold of it before it passes away. 

As soon as the late Emperor Paul of Russia abandoned 
his coalition with England and become a Neutral Power, 
this Crisis of time, and also of circumstances, was then ar- 
riving ; and I employed it in arranging a plan for the protec- 
tion of the Commerce of Neutral Nations during War, that 
might, in its operation and consequences, relieve the Com- 
merce of America. The Plan, with the pieces accompanying 
it, consisted of about forty pages. The Citizen Bonneville, 
with whom I lived in Paris, translated it into French ; Mr. 
Skipwith, the American Consul, Joel Barlow, and myself, 
had the translation printed and distributed as a present to 
the Foreign Ministers of all the Neutral Nations then resi- 
dent in Paris. This was in the summer of 1800. 

It was entitled Maritime Compact (in French Pacte Mari- 
time). The plan, exclusive of the pieces that accompanied 
it, consisted of the following Preamble and Articles. 

MARITIME COMPACT. 

Being an Unarmed Association of Nations for the protection of the Rights 
and Commerce of Nations that shall be neutral in time of War. 

Whereas, the Vexations and Injuries to which the Rights 
and Commerce of Neutral Nations have been, and continue 
to be, exposed during the time of maritime War, render it 
necessary to establish a law of Nations for the purpose of 
putting an end to such vexations and Injuries, and to 
guarantee to the Neutral Nations the exercise of their just 
Rights, 

We, therefore, the undersigned Powers, form ourselves 
into an Association, and establish the following as a Law of 
Nations on the Seas. 

ARTICLE THE FIRST. 
Definition of the Rights of neutral Nations. 

The Rights of Nations, such as are exercised by them in 
their intercourse with each other in time of Peace, are, and 



422 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

of right ought to be, the Rights of Neutral Nations at all 
times ; because, 

First, those Rights not having been abandoned by them, 
remain with them. 

Secondly, because those Rights cannot become forfeited 
or void, in consequence of War breaking out between two 
or more other Nations. 

A War of Nation against Nation being exclusively the act 
of the Nations that make the War, and not the act of the 
Neutral Nations, cannot, whether considered in itself or in 
its consequences, destroy or diminish the Rights of the 
Nations remaining in Peace. 

ARTICLE THE SECOND. 

The Ships and Vessels of Nations that rest neuter and at 
Peace with the World during a War with other Nations, 
have a Right to navigate freely on the Seas as they navi- 
gated before that War broke out, and to proceed to and 
enter the Port or Ports of any of the Belligerent Powers, 
with the consent of that Power, without being seized, searched, 
visited, or any ways interrupted, by the Nation or Nations 
with which that Nation is at War. 

ARTICLE THE THIRD. 

For the Conservation of the aforesaid Rights, We, the 
undersigned Powers, engaging to each other our Sacred 
Faith and Honour, DECLARE 

That if any Belligerent Power shall seize, search, visit, or any 
ways interrupt any Ship or Vessel belonging to the Citizens 
or Subjects of any of the Powers composing this Association, 
then each and all of the said undersigned Powers will cease 
to import, and will not permit to be imported into the Ports 
or Dominions of any of the said undersigned Powers, in any 
Ship or Vessel whatever, any Goods, wares, or Merchandize, 
produced or manufactured in, or exported from, the Do- 
minions of the Power so offending against the Association 
hereby established and Proclaimed. 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS, 423 

ARTICLE THE FOURTH. 

That all the Ports appertaining to any and all of the 
Powers composing this Association shall be shut against the 
Flag of the offending Nation. 

ARTICLE THE FIFTH. 

That no remittance or payment in Money, Merchandize, 
or Bills of Exchange, shall be made by any of the Citizens, 
or Subjects, of any of the Powers composing this Associa- 
tion, to the Citizens or Subjects of the offending Nation, for 
the Term of one year, or until reparation be made. The 

reparation to be times the amount of the damages 

sustained. 

ARTICLE THE SIXTH. 

If any Ship or Vessel appertaining to any of the Citizens 
or Subjects of any of the Powers composing this Association 
shall be seized, searched, visited, or interrupted, by any Bel- 
ligerent Nation, or be forcibly prevented entering the Port 
of her destination, or be seized, searched, visited, or inter- 
rupted, in coming out of such Port, or be forcibly prevented 
from proceeding to any new destination, or be insulted or 
visited by any Agent from on board any Vessel of any Bel- 
ligerent Power, the Government or Executive Power of the 
Nation to which the Ship or Vessel so seized, searched, 
visited, or interrupted belongs, shall, on evidence of the fact, 
make public Proclamation of the same, and send a Copy 
thereof to the Government, or Executive, of each of the 
Powers composing this Association, who shall publish the 
same in all the extent of his Dominions, together with a 
Declaration, that at the expiration of days after publica- 
tion, the penal articles of this Association shall be put in 
execution against the offending Nation. 

ARTICLE THE SEVENTH. 

If reparation be not made within the space of one year, 
the said Proclamation shall be renewed for one year more, 
and so on. 



424 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

ARTICLE THE EIGHTH. 

The Association chooses for itself a Flag to be carried at 
the Mast-head conjointly with the National Flag of each 
Nation composing this Association. 

The Flag of the Association shall be composed of the 
same colors as compose the Rain-bow, and arranged in the 
same order as they appear in that Phenomenon. 

ARTICLE THE NINTH. 

And whereas, it may happen that one or more of the Na- 
tions composing this Association may be, at the time of 
forming it, engaged in War or become so in future, in that 
case, the Ships and Vessels of such Nation shall carry the 
Flag of the Association bound round the Mast, to denote 
that the Nation to which she belongs is a Member of the 
Association and a respecter of its Laws. 

N. B. This distinction in the manner of carrying the Flag 
is mearly for the purpose, that Neutral Vessels having the 
Flag at the Mast-head, may be known at first sight. 

ARTICLE THE TENTH. 

And whereas, it is contrary to the moral principles of 
Neutrality and Peace, that any Neutral Nation should fur- 
nish to the Belligerent Powers, or any of them, the means of 
carrying on War against each other, We, therefore, the 
Powers composing this Association, Declare, that we will 
each one for itself, prohibit in our Dominions the exporta- 
tion or transportation of military stores, comprehending gun- 
powder, cannon, and cannon-balls, fire arms of all kinds, and 
all kinds of iron and steel weapons used in War. Excluding 
therefrom all kinds of Utensils and Instruments used in civil 
or domestic life, and every other article that cannot, in its 
immediate state, be employed in War. 

Having thus declared the moral Motives of the foregoing 
Article, We declare also the civil and political Intention 
thereof, to wit, 

That as Belligerent Nations have no right to visit or search 
any Ship or Vessel belonging to a Nation at Peace, and 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 42$ 

under the protection of the Laws and Government thereof, 
and as all such visit or search is an insult to the Nation to 
which such Ship or Vessel belongs and to the Government of 
the same, We, therefore, the Powers composing this Associa- 
tion, will take the right of prohibition on ourselves to whom 
it properly belongs, and by whom only it can be legally 
exercised, and not permit foreign Nations, in a state of War, 
to usurp the right of legislating by Proclamation for any of 
the Citizens or Subjects of the Powers composing this 
Association. 

It is, therefore, in order to take away all pretence of search 
or visit, which by being offensive might become a new cause 
of War, that we will provide Laws and publish them by 
Proclamation, each in his own Dominion, to prohibit the 
supplying, or carrying to, the Belligerent Powers, or either of 
them, the military stores or articles before mentioned, annex- 
ing thereto a penalty to be levied or inflicted upon any per- 
sons within our several Dominions transgressing the same. 
And we invite all Persons, as well of the Belligerent Nations 
as of our own, or of any other, to give information of any 
knowledge they may have of any transgressions against the 
said Law, that the offenders may be prosecuted. 

By this conduct we restore the word Contraband (contra 
and ban) to its true and original signification, which means 
against Law, edict, or Proclamation ; and none but the Gov- 
ernment of a Nation can have, or can exercise, the right of 
making Laws, edicts, or Proclamations, for the conduct of its 
Citizens or Subjects. 

Now We, the undersigned Powers, declare the aforesaid 
Articles to be a Law of Nations at all times, or until a Con- 
gress of Nations shall meet to form some Law more 
effectual. 

And we do recommend that immediately on the breaking 
out of War between any two or more Nations, that Deputies 
be appointed by all Neutral Nations, whether members of 
this Association or not, to meet in Congress in some central 
place to take cognizance of any violations of the Rights of 
Neutral Nations. Signed, &c. 



426 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

For the purpose of giving operation to the aforesaid plan 
of an unarmed Association, the following Paragraph was sub- 
joined : 

It may be judged proper for the order of Business, that 
the Association of Nations have a President for a term of 
years, and the Presidency to pass by rotation, to each of the 
parties composing the Association. 

In that case, and for the sake of regularity, the first Presi- 
dent to be the Executive power of the most northerly 
Nation composing the Association, and his deputy or Minis- 
ter at the Congress to be President of the Congress, — and 
the next most northerly to be Vice-president, who shall 
succeed to the Presidency, and so on. The line determining 
the Geographical situation of each, to be the latitude of the 
Capital of each Nation. 

If this method be adopted it will be proper that the first 
President be nominally constituted in order to give rotation 
to the rest. In that case the following Article might be 
added to the foregoing, viz't. The Constitution of the Asso- 
ciation nominates the Emperor Paul to be first President 
of the Association of Nations for the protection of Neutral 
Commerce, and securing the freedom of the Seas. 

The foregoing plan, as I have before mentioned, was pre- 
sented to the Ministers of all the Neutral Nations then in 
Paris, in the summer of 1800. Six Copies were given to the 
Russian General Springporten ; and a Russian Gentleman who 
was going to Petersburgh took two expressly for the purpose 
of putting them into the hands of Paul. I sent the original 
manuscript, in my own handwriting, to Mr. Jefferson, and also 
wrote him four Letters, dated the 1st, 4th, 6th, 16th of 
October, 1800, giving him an account of what was then going 
on in Europe respecting Neutral Commerce. 

The Case was, that in order to compel the English Gov- 
ernment to acknowledge the rights of Neutral Commerce, 
and that free Ships make free Goods, the Emperor Paul, in 
the month of September following the publication of the 
plan, shut all the Ports of Russia against England. Sweden 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 427 

and Denmark did the same by their Ports, and Denmark 
shut up Hamburgh. Prussia shut up the Elbe and the 
Weser. The ports of Spain, Portugal, and Naples were shut 
up, and, in general, all the ports of Italy, except Venice, 
which the Emperor of Germany held ; and had it not been 
for the untimely death of Paul, a Law of Nations ', founded 
on the authority of Nations, for establishing the rights of 
Neutral Commerce and the freedom of the Seas, would have 
been proclaimed, and the Government of England must have 
consented to that Law, or the Nation must have lost its 
Commerce ; and the consequence to America would have 
been, that such a Law would, in a great measure if not en- 
tirely, have released her from the injuries of Jay's Treaty. 

Of all these matters I informed Mr. Jefferson. This was 
before he was President, and the Letter he wrote me after 
he was President was in answer to those I had written to him 
and the manuscript Copy of the plan I had sent here. Here 

follows the Letter : 

Washington, March 18, 1801. 
Dear Sir : 

Your letters of Oct. 1st, 4th, 6th, 16th, came duly to hand, and 
the papers which they covered were, according to your permis- 
sion, published in the Newspapers, and in a Pamphlet, and under 
your own name. These papers contain precisely our principles, 
and I hope they will be generally recognized here. Determined 
as we are to avoid, if possible, wasting the energies of our People in 
war and destruction, we shall avoid implicating ourselves with the 
Powers of Europe, even in support of principles which we mean to 
pursue. They have so many other Interests different from ours that 
we must avoid being entangled in them. We believe we can enforce 
those principles as to ourselves by Peaceable means, now that we are 
likely to have our Public Councils detached from foreign views. The 
return of our citizens from the phrenzy into which they had been 
wrought, partly by ill conduct in France, partly by artifices practiced 
upon them, is almost extinct, and will, I believe, become quite so. 
But these details, too minute and long for a Letter, will be better 
developed by Mr. Dawson, the Bearer of this, a Member of the 
late Congress, to whom I refer you for them. He goes in the 
Maryland Sloop of War, which will wait a few days at Havre to 
receive his Letters to be written on his arrival at Paris. You ex- 



428 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1803 

pressed a wish to get a passage to this Country in a Public Vessel. 
Mr. Dawson is charged with orders to the Captain of the Mary- 
land to receive and accommodate you back if you can be ready to 
depart at such a short warning. Rob't R. Livingston is appointed 
Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of France, but will not 
leave this, till we receive the ratification of the Convention by 
Mr. Dawson. I am in hopes you will find us returned generally 
to sentiments worthy of former times. In these it will be your 
glory to have steadily laboured and with as much effect as any 
man living. That you may long live to continue your useful 
Labours and to reap the reward in the thankfulness of Nations is 
my sincere prayer. Accept assurances of my high esteem and 
affectionate attachment. Thomas Jefferson. 

This, Citizens of the United States, is the Letter about 
which the leaders and tools of the Federal faction, without 
knowing its contents or the occasion of writing it, have 
wasted so many malignant falsehoods. It is a Letter which, 
on account of its wise economy and peaceable principles, 
and its forbearance to reproach, will be read by every good 
Man and every good Citizen with pleasure ; and the faction, 
mortified at its appearance, will have to regret they forced it 
into publication. The least atonement they can now offer 
is to make the Letter as public as they have made their own 
infamy, and learn to lie no more. 

The same injustice they shewed to Mr. Jefferson they 
shewed to me. I had employed myself in Europe, and at 
my own expense, in forming and promoting a plan that 
would, in its operation, have benefited the Commerce of 
America ; and the faction here invented and circulated an 
account in the papers they employ, that I had given a plan 
to the French for burning all the towns on the Coast from 
Savannah to Baltimore. Were I to prosecute them for this 
(and I do not promise that I will not, for the Liberty of the 
Press is not the liberty of lying,) there is not a falderal judge, 
not even one of Midnight appointment, but must, from the 
nature of the case, be obliged to condemn them. The fac- 
tion, however, cannot complain they have been restrained in 
any thing. They have had their full swing of lying uncon- 



1803] LETTERS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS. 429 

tradicted ; they have availed themselves, unopposed, of all 
the arts Hypocrisy could devise ; and the event has been, 
what in all such cases it ever will and ought to be, the ruin 
of themselves. 

The Characters of the late and of the present Adminis- 
trations are now sufficiently marked, and the adherents of 
each keep up the distinction. The former Administration 
rendered itself notorious by outrage, coxcombical parade, 
false alarms, a continued increase of taxes, and an unceasing 
clamor for War ; and as every vice has a virtue opposed to 
it, the present Administration moves on the direct contrary 
line. The question, therefore, at elections is not properly a 
question upon Persons, but upon principles. Those who are 
for Peace, moderate taxes, and mild Government, will vote 
for the Administration that conducts itself by those princi- 
ples, in whatever hands that Administration may be. 

There are in the United States, and particularly in the 
middle States, several religious Sects, whose leading moral 
principle is PEACE. It is, therefore, impossible that such 
Persons, consistently with the dictates of that principle, can 
vote for an Administration that is clamorous for War. 
When moral principles, rather than Persons, are candidates 
for Power, to vote is to perform a moral duty, and not to 
vote is to neglect a duty. 

That persons who are hunting after places, offices, and 
contracts, should be advocates for War, taxes, and extrava- 
gance, is not to be wondered at ; but that so large a portion 
of the People who had nothing to depend upon but their 
Industry, and no other public prospect but that of paying 
taxes, and bearing the burden, should be advocates for the 
same measures, is a thoughtlessness not easily accounted 
for. But reason is recovering her empire, and the fog of 

delusion is clearing away. 

Thomas Paine. 

BORDENTOWN, ON THE DELAWARE, 

New Jersey, April 21, 1803. 1 

indorsed: "Sent by Gen. Bloomfield per Mr. Wilson for Mr. Duane.' 
And, in a later hand: "Paine Letter 6. Found among the Bartram Papers 
sent by Col. Care."— Editor. 



XXXIV. 

TO THE FRENCH INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA. 1 

A PUBLICATION having the appearance of a memorial and 
remonstrance, to be presented to Congress at the ensuing 
session, has appeared, in several papers. It is therefore open 
to examination, and I offer you my remarks upon it. The 
title and introductory paragraph are as follows : 

" To the Congress of the United States, in the Senate and 
House of Representatives convened: We the subscribers, 
planters, merchants, and other inhabitants of Louisiana, re- 
spectfully approach the legislature of the United States with 
a memorial of our rights, a remonstrance against certain 
laws which contravene them, and a petition for that redress 
to which the laws of nature, sanctioned by positive stipula- 
tions, have entitled us." 

It often happens that when one party, or one that thinks 
itself a party, talks much about its rights, it puts those of the 
other party upon examining into their own, and such is the 
effect produced by your memorial. 

A single reading of that memorial will show it is the work 
of some person who is not of your people. His acquaintance 
with the cause, commencement, progress, and termination of 
the American revolution, decides this point ; and his making 

1 In a letter to Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury (Oct. 14, 1804), 
John Randolph of Roanoke proposed ' ' the printing of — thousand copies of 
Tom Paine's answer to their remonstrance, and transmitting them by as many 
thousand troops, who can speak a language perfectly intelligible to the people 
of Louisiana, whatever that of their government may be." The purchase of 
Louisiana was announced to the Senate by President Jefferson, October 17, 
1803.— Editor. 



1804] THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA. 431 

our merits in that revolution the ground of your claims, as 
if our merits could become yours, show she does not under- 
stand your situation. 

We obtained our rights by calmly understanding prin- 
ciples, and by the successful event of a long, obstinate, and 
expensive war. But it is not incumbent on us to fight the 
battles of the world for the world's profit. You are already 
participating, without any merit or expense in obtaining it, 
the blessings of freedom acquired by ourselves ; and in pro- 
portion as you become initiated into the principles and prac- 
tice of the representative system of government, of which 
you have yet had no experience, you will participate more, 
and finally be partakers of the whole. You see what mis- 
chief ensued in France by the possession of power before 
they understood principles. They earned liberty in words, 
but not in fact. The writer of this was in France through 
the whole of the revolution, and knows the truth of what he 
speaks ; for after endeavouring to give it principle, he had 
nearly fallen a victim to its rage. 

There is a great want of judgment in the person who drew 
up your memorial. He has mistaken j^zzr case, and forgotten 
his own ; and by trying to court your applause has injured 
your pretensions. He has written like a lawyer, straining 
every point that would please his client, without studying 
his advantage. I find no fault with the composition of the 
memorial, for it is well written ; nor with the principles of 
liberty it contains, considered in the abstract. The error 
lies in the misapplication of them, and in assuming a ground 
they have not a right to stand upon. Instead of their serv- 
ing you as a ground of reclamation against us, they change 
into a satire on yourselves. Why did you not speak thus 
when you ought to have spoken it ? We fought for liberty 
when you stood quiet in slavery. 

The author of the memorial injudiciously confounding two 
distinct cases together, has spoken as if he was the me- 
morialist of a body of Americans, who, after sharing equally 
with us in all the dangers and hardships of the revolutionary 
war, had retired to a distance and made a settlement for 



43 2 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1804 

themselves. If, in such a situation, Congress had established 
a temporary government over them, in which they were not 
personally consulted, they would have had a right to speak 
as the memorial speaks. But your situation is different from 
what the situation of such persons would be, and therefore 
their ground of reclamation cannot of right become yours. 
You are arriving at freedom by the easiest means that any 
people ever enjoyed it ; without contest, without expense, 
and even without any contrivance of your own. And you 
already so far mistake principles, that under the name of 
rights you ask for powers-, power to import and enslave 
Africans ; and to govern a territory that we have purchased. 

To give colour to your memorial, you refer to the treaty of 
cession, (in which you were not one of the contracting 
parties,) concluded at Paris between the governments of the 
United States and France. 

" The third article " you say " of the treaty lately con- 
cluded at Paris declares, that the inhabitants of the ceded 
territory shall be incorporated in the union of the United 
States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the 
principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of 
all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the 
United States ; and in the mean time, they shall be pro- 
tected in the enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the ex- 
ercise of the religion they profess." 

As from your former condition, you cannot be much ac- 
quainted with diplomatic policy, and I am convinced that 
even the gentleman who drew up the memorial is not, I will 
explain to you the grounds of this article. It may prevent 
your running into further errors. 

The territory of Louisiana had been so often ceded to 
different European powers, that it became a necessary arti- 
cle on the part of France, and for the security of Spain, the 
ally of France, and which accorded perfectly with our own 
principles and intentions, that it should be ceded no more ; 
and this article, stipulating for the incorporation of Louisi- 
ana into the union of the United States, stands as a bar 
against all future cession, and at the same time, as well as 



1804] THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA. 433 

11 in the mean time" secures to you a civil and political 
permanency, personal security and liberty which you never 
enjoyed before. 

France and Spain might suspect, (and the suspicion would 
not have been ill-founded had the cession been treated for 
in the administration of John Adams, or when Washington 
was president, and Alexander Hamilton president over him,) 
that we bought Louisiana for the British government, or with 
a view of selling it to her ; and though such suspicion had no 
just ground to stand upon with respect to our present presi- 
dent, Thomas Jefferson, who is not only not a man of intrigue 
but who possesses that honest pride of principle that cannot 
be intrigued with, and which keeps intriguers at a distance, 
the article was nevertheless necessary as a precaution against 
future contingencies. But you, from not knowing the politi- 
cal ground of the article, apply to yourselves personally and 
exclusively, what had reference to the territory, to prevent its 
falling into the hands of any foreign power that might en- 
danger the [establishment of] Spanish dominion in America, 
or those of the French in the West India Islands. 

You claim, (you say), to be incorporated into the union of 
the United States, and your remonstrances on this subject 
are unjust and without cause. 

You are already incorporated into it as fully and effectually 
as the Americans themselves are, who are settled in Louisi- 
ana. You enjoy the same rights, privileges, advantages, and 
immunities, which they enjoy ; and when Louisiana, or 
some part of it, shall be erected into a constitutional State, 
you also will be citizens equal with them. 

You speak in your memorial, as if you were the only peo- 
ple who were to live in Louisiana, and as if the territory was 
purchased that you exclusively might govern it. In both 
these cases you are greatly mistaken. The emigrations from 
the United States into the purchased territory, and the 
population arising therefrom, will, in a few years, exceed 
you in numbers. It is but twenty-six years since Kentucky 
began to be settled, and it already contains more than 
double your population. 

VOL III— 28 



434 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. [1804 

In a candid view of the case, you ask for what would be 
injurious to yourselves to receive, and unjust in us to grant. 
Injurious, because the settlement of Louisiana will go on 
much faster under the government and guardianship of Con- 
gress, then if the government of it were committed to your 
hands ; and consequently, the landed property you possessed 
as individuals when the treaty was concluded, or have pur- 
chased since, will increase so much faster in value. — Unjust 
to ourselves, because as the reimbursements of the purchase 
money must come out of the sale of the lands to new set- 
tlers, the government of it cannot suddenly go out of the 
hands of Congress. They are guardians of that property for 
all the people of the United States. And besides this, as the 
new settlers will be chiefly from the United States, it would 
be unjust and ill policy to put them and their property 
under the jurisdiction of a people whose freedom they had 
contributed to purchase. You ought also to recollect, that 
the French Revolution has not exhibited to the world that 
grand display of principles and rights, that would induce 
settlers from other countries to put themselves under a 
French jurisdiction in Louisiana. Beware of intriguers who 
may push you on from private motives of their own. 

You complain of two cases, one of which you have no 
right, no concern with ; and the other is founded in direct 
injustice. 

You complain that Congress has passed a law to divide 
the country into two territories. It is not improper to in- 
form you, that after the revolutionary war ended, Congress 
divided the territory acquired by that war into ten terri- 
tories ; each of which was to be erected into a constitutional 
State, when it arrived at a certain population mentioned in 
the Act ; and, in the mean time, an officer appointed by the 
President, as the Governor of Louisiana now is, presided, as 
Governor of the Western Territory, over all such parts as 
have not arrived at the maturity of statehood. Louisiana 
will require to be divided into twelve States or more ; but 
this is a matter that belongs to the purchaser oi the territory 
of Louisiana, and with which the inhabitants of the town of 



1804] THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA, 435 

New-Orleans have no right to interfere ; and beside this, it is 
probable that the inhabitants of the other territory would 
choose to be independent of New-Orleans. They might 
apprehend, that on some speculating pretence, their produce 
might be put in requisition, and a maximum price put on it 
— a thing not uncommon in a French government. As a 
general rule, without refining upon sentiment, one may put 
confidence in the justice of those who have no inducement 
to do us injustice ; and this is the case Congress stands in 
with respect to both territories, and to all other divisions 
that may be laid out, and to all inhabitants and settlers, of 
whatever nation they may be. 

There can be no such thing as what the memorial speaks 
of, that is, of a Governor appointed by the President who may 
have no interest in the welfare of Louisiana. He must, from 
the nature of the case, have more interest in it than any 
other person can have. He is entrusted with the care of an 
extensive tract of country, now the property of the United 
States by purchase. The value of those lands will depend 
on the increasing prosperity of Louisiana, its agriculture, 
commerce, and population. You have only a local and 
partial interest in the town of New-Orleans, or its vicinity ; 
and if, in consequence of exploring the country, new seats of 
commerce should offer, his general interest would lead him 
to open them, and your partial interest to shut them up. 

There is probably some justice in your remark, as it applies 
to the governments under which you formerly lived. Such 
governments always look with jealousy, and an apprehension 
of revolt, on colonies increasing in prosperity and population, 
and they send governors to keep them down. But when you 
argue from the conduct of governments distant and despotic, 
to that of domestic and free government, it shows you do 
not understand the principles and interest of a Republic, and 
to put you right is friendship. We have had experience, 
and you have not. 

The other case to which I alluded, as being founded in 
direct injustice, is that in which you petition for power, under 
the name of rights, to import and enslave Africans ! 



43^ 



THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE. 



[1804 



Dare you put up a petition to Heaven for such a power, 
without fearing to be struck from the earth by its justice ? 

Why, then, do you ask it of man against man ? 

Do you want to renew in Louisiana the horrors of Do- 
mingo ? 

Common Sense. 

Sept. 22, 1804. 



END OF VOLUME III. 







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